Is this normal?!

[rayl000]

This is the first batch I've made with primary transferred to clear glass carboy.....always used opaque buckets. I am confused by the amount of coagulate solids in fermenter and not sure how to measure the specific gravity with this stratification...is this normal or fubar? any tips?

ps I used 1 whirfloc tablet during last 15 minutes of boil

 

[MaxM]

Just to be sure, this is your carboy just after you racked it from the kettle? Looks like standard debris to me. What was the recipe? As for measuring the gravity, it doesn’t matter if there is trub in your sample; the hydrometer only measures the dissolved sugar in the wort and the presence of non-dissolved solids doesn’t change the readings.

 

[rayl000]

Just to be sure, this is your carboy just after you racked it from the kettle? Looks like standard debris to me. What was the recipe? As for measuring the gravity, it doesn’t matter if there is trub in your sample; the hydrometer only measures the dissolved sugar in the wort and the presence of non-dissolved solids doesn’t change the readings.

Yes from the kettle..its a California Pale Ale (partial mash kit from AHB)..OK thanks..I seem to get much higher reading with mixed solids versus clear liquid..Ill have to try again

 

[MaxM]

I seem to get much higher reading with mixed solids versus clear liquid..Ill have to try again

Well it appears that although I was theoretically correct, trub can artificially impact your reading. Check out this thread: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/do-other-solids-effect-og-reading.52920/

I think the consensus is it’s good to let everything settle down before taking a reading.

 

[rayl000]

Well it appears that although I was theoretically correct, trub can artificially impact your reading. Check out this thread: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/do-other-solids-effect-og-reading.52920/

I think the consensus is it’s good to let everything settle down before taking a reading.

ok thanks...it had stratified and was able to measure the sg of the clear liquid...a bit on the low side which leads to next question! I have consistently arrived at low SG on these partial extract kits despite following instructions closely...in the end to maintain target SG I have added less water at end and less beer than the final 5 1/4 gallons that the instructions call for

 

[MaxM]

in the end to maintain target SG I have added less water at end and less beer than the final 5 1/4 gallons that the instructions call for

That’s good on you for making the adjustment. There’re a lot of things like that which depend pretty heavily on your setup. So if the recipe was formulated on a system with a faster boil-off rate than yours, you’ll get a lower SG from the same process. Once you get really familiar with your equipment, you’ll be able to predict what will happen with reasonable accuracy (or so I hope anyway... I’m still not there).

 

[RM-MN]

ok thanks...it had stratified and was able to measure the sg of the clear liquid...a bit on the low side which leads to next question! I have consistently arrived at low SG on these partial extract kits despite following instructions closely...in the end to maintain target SG I have added less water at end and less beer than the final 5 1/4 gallons that the instructions call for

With a partial mash you are expecting to get a portion of the sugars from the grains themselves, much as an all grain would. The sugars you get depend on a few things.
1. How well the grains are crushed. To get the starches to convert to sugars you need to get all the starch wet (gelatinization). The smaller the grain particles the faster and more thoroughly this will happen.
2. The conversion speed depends on the temperature of the mash. That temperature needs to fall between 149 and 160F to get the conversion you are looking for. If you are in the lower part of that range, mash longer.
3. Once you have all the starches converted to sugars you need to get the sweet wort out of the mash. With a partial mash I would expect your grains to be held in a bag. Let it drain. Then pour some water over it and let it drain again. This is known as a pour over sparge.
4. Now that you have collected this wort, you are on to adding extract and boiling. Some people will make a whirlpool when the boil is over and attempt to leave the trub that includes the hop material behind. That whirlpool is mostly wort and leaving it behind will affect the brewhouse efficiency and you end up with less wort. Pour it all into the fermenter. It won't hurt the beer.

 

[rayl000]

With a partial mash you are expecting to get a portion of the sugars from the grains themselves, much as an all grain would. The sugars you get depend on a few things.
1. How well the grains are crushed. To get the starches to convert to sugars you need to get all the starch wet (gelatinization). The smaller the grain particles the faster and more thoroughly this will happen.
2. The conversion speed depends on the temperature of the mash. That temperature needs to fall between 149 and 160F to get the conversion you are looking for. If you are in the lower part of that range, mash longer.
3. Once you have all the starches converted to sugars you need to get the sweet wort out of the mash. With a partial mash I would expect your grains to be held in a bag. Let it drain. Then pour some water over it and let it drain again. This is known as a pour over sparge.
4. Now that you have collected this wort, you are on to adding extract and boiling. Some people will make a whirlpool when the boil is over and attempt to leave the trub that includes the hop material behind. That whirlpool is mostly wort and leaving it behind will affect the brewhouse efficiency and you end up with less wort. Pour it all into the fermenter. It won't hurt the beer.

 

[rayl000]

Yes thanks..I have stopped worrying about adding trub to fermenter (more worried about losing fermentables)..i have been steepng in an igloo cooler to maintain constant temp versus electric stove..I think I'll try mashing longer as suggested

 

[MaxM]

I think I'll try mashing longer as suggested

I brewed a little 1G BIAB batch yesterday and I used a calculator (https://www.brewersfriend.com/allgrain-ogfg/) to see the estimated pre-boil gravity based on your grain bill. I conducted my mash and took a gravity reading toward the end to confirm that I had sufficient conversion (don’t forget to adjust SG for temperature). I’m not sure that would help for your cooler though... BIAB, especially small batch, has the added benefit of simply being able to lift the grains out to get a reading. Maybe you could figure out a good way for you to do that with your setup.

 

[Amadeo38]

I know this is unrelated to your question (the answer to which is, yes, normal albeit mango-y looking trub), but figured I’d try to be helpful since I noticed something. Most consider it best practice to take your gravity sample right before chilling and transferring the wort to your fermenter. This achieves three things: (1) it ensures the wort is still above 150F, and thus any device you use to extract the wort sample won’t introduce unwanted bacteria, (2) allows you to sample from the top of the wort and avoid the trub issue you mentioned, and (3) provides you with an opportunity to increase the SG with the addition of sugar or DME at the end of the boil if your numbers didn’t hit quite right. Of course, you’ll have to allow the sample to cool enough to measure SG reliably, and make sure you use the temperature correction factor for your device (not an issue if using an ATC refractometer).

After you’ve chilled and transferred to primary, the only thing you typically want to put into the wort at that point is the yeast (when you’re at the proper temp). May be paranoid on my part, but better safe than sorry. Hope this helps!

 

[rayl000]

Thanks good point on the sanitization and testing at 150+ will do this in future

 

[Amadeo38]

Thanks good point on the sanitization and testing at 150+ will do this in future

Just to clarify - you take the sample when it’s 150 or higher (if you don’t have spigot/ball valve that you can decant off a sample at lower temp), but allow the sample to cool down a bit in order to measure it. If you don’t cool to 68F (typical hydrometer calibration), you have to use an online hydrometer temperature correction scale to figure out the true SG at whatever temp.

 

[Amadeo38]

How’d the beer turn out?

 

[Liam569]

I hope you got what you wanted, even with 2 attempts I am just starting, tell me you experimented a lot before? From water purification, you did not perform additional filtration?

 

[Soulshine2]

This is the first batch I've made with primary transferred to clear glass carboy.....always used opaque buckets. I am confused by the amount of coagulate solids in fermenter and not sure how to measure the specific gravity with this stratification...is this normal or fubar? any tips?

ps I used 1 whirfloc tablet during last 15 minutes of boil

sanitize a racking cane and draw your gravity sample. I usually draw one off as I'm racking it to the carboy since its already flowing. Pitch yeast and let it settle on its own. It should be fine.
Make sure you put a blow-off tube in that for the first couple days post pitch.

 

[Soulshine2]

Just to clarify - you take the sample when it’s 150 or higher (if you don’t have spigot/ball valve that you can decant off a sample at lower temp), but allow the sample to cool down a bit in order to measure it. If you don’t cool to 68F (typical hydrometer calibration), you have to use an online hydrometer temperature correction scale to figure out the true SG at whatever temp.

60*F is what my hydro is cal'd for. corrections according to the chart they come with is usually only .001 so its not that big of a deal.

 

[Soulshine2]

How did you chill your wort, no chill ,chill plate or immersion chiller? I started whirlfloc at 15 minutes then I went to a 10 minute and I seemed to have less trub that way. I use a copper immersion chiller as well. Dont worry about your trub, just be very careful to rack off the clear beer when transferring to your bottling bucket.