Too Much Trub? (Procedural Questions)

[koenigwi]

I made my second batch ever, and it went much more smoothly than my first. I used the nut brown ale extract kit from Apex Brew Wares in Independence MO (http://www.apexbrewwares.com/Beer-Making/Beer-Recipe-Kits/nut-brown-ale.html). I also went with the Clarity Ferm for gluten reduction. They keep it in stock.

I finished at about 11:00 last night, came down in the morning, and found 1.5" of trub in the bottom of the carboy. Questions:

1. Is this trub, or is it sediment from my brew pot? Or are they the same thing? Not sure.

2. Should I let my wort sit for a while once cooled so some of the sediment drops out before transferring?

3. I've been swirling my immersion chiller around in the wort to speed up cooling, but this churns up a lot of sediment. Should I stop doing that?

I lost almost a gallon to the trub last time, and it looks like the same is going to happen here. I don't want to have that next time if I can help it.

 

[theowlman16]

No worries. "Trub" refers to whats left after fermentation...spent yeast, protein, fat, sediment. If you just brewed last night, then your probably looking at some of that combined with whatever you poured from the brew pot. Its all ok to be in there. I use a strainer to catch the big junk, hops, etc. Some brewers toss it all in. The height of that "stuff" will compress. If you let it rest a few weeks after fermentation is complete, it will be much smaller and very easy to transfer off of (and leave behind).

 

[flars]

When everything that was in your boil kettle is in the fermentor it is called trub. The hop debris and break materials.

I'll let the boil kettle sit for a half hour before I pour into the fermentor. I stop pouring when it is just pure sludge left in the kettle. I pour through a fine mesh bag to remove almost all the hop debris and break material. I do this to harvest cleaner yeast. It isn't necessary to remove boil kettle debris. It will not cause off flavors in your beer.

Okay to stir while cooling to speed up the process. Letting the kettle sit undisturbed before pouring will settle a lot of the debris.

You'll have more beer to bottle if you don't rush the process. The trub layer will compact more with more time in the primary. You could also bump up your volume in the fermentor slightly without changing the characteristics of the beer too much.

Only getting four gallons into the bottle from a five gallon brew seems like an excessive loss. Something is amiss in your bottling procedure.

 

[IslandLizard]

Kettle trub in your fermentor won't harm your beer, it can be even beneficial. It will all settle out after the fermentation is done, and leave (nearly) clear beer behind. When racking to your bottling bucket, just rack from the top. Use one of those plastic tippies that attach to the bottom of your racking cane to prevent sucking up the trub. Don't stick that cane all the way down, leave it above the trub, slowly lowering it while racking, until you transferred all the beer, leaving the trub cake behind.

Trub production is a natural part of brewing. Did you dump the whole kettle content into your carboy? Looks like there's a ton of (green) hop debris (from pellet hops) on the bottom.

1. Yes, they are the same.

2. Yes, wait for it to settle out is advisable. Then rack from the top, leaving most of the trub behind.

3. Swirling is good to get faster, more efficient chilling. Once chilled, the trub will settle in 30 minutes usually. See 1.

Whether you leave it behind in the kettle, or behind in your carboy later, trub losses are real in brewing and acceptable if kept to a relative minimum.

I've devised ways to strain the kettle trub and collect the entrapped "lost" wort. Usually about 2-3 quarts in a 5 gallon batch. Utter sanitation practices are needed or you can simply reboil it. Whether it's worth the effort and (slight) risk of introducing an infection if an error is made remains up to the brewer.

 

[koenigwi]

Only getting four gallons into the bottle from a five gallon brew seems like an excessive loss. Something is amiss in your bottling procedure.

The first responder said the trub compresses over time. I bottled after 2 weeks. Might have been too soon?

 

[koenigwi]

Did you dump the whole kettle content into your carboy? Looks like there's a ton of (green) hop debris (from pellet hops) on the bottom.

I siphoned to the carboy and tried to minimize how much gunk I picked up out of the kettle. I'll let it settle for an hour next time.


And I suspect I know the answer to this one, but I'm not seeing much action after 12 hours. Is that OK? My first batch was churning at this point.

 

[theowlman16]

Yup. Some yeasts take a while to get started. I just used Nottingham for a APA, it took almost 36 hours to show some life. Did you give it a good shake after pitching the yeast?

 

[IslandLizard]

I siphoned to the carboy and tried to minimize how much gunk I picked up out of the kettle. I'll let it settle for an hour next time.


And I suspect I know the answer to this one, but I'm not seeing much action after 12 hours. Is that OK? My first batch was churning at this point.

Did you use Irish Moss or some other kettle fining agent in the boil? They help coagulate and precipitate proteins, break and other trub matter.

If it needs an hour, that's fine, even 2 or 3 hours. Just keep the lid on. Sweet wort is very susceptible to infections, so keep everything that touches it sanitary. I've gone as far as pouring it into a bucket and let it sit for a few hours, then pour into another bucket, leaving the 2" of trub behind. Everything well sanitized and the lid on!

Did you pitch dry yeast? Did you rehydrate it first?
There's always some lag time, you may not see much until 1-2 days in. You could swirl the carboy a bit. Place it on a soft surface, like a piece of thick carpet. Just be be very careful handling those carboys, they're glass and can crack, they're rather thin, much thinner than we would expect from such a large vessel. Many of us prefer to use plastic buckets for that reason. And they come with a handle!

 

[koenigwi]

Did you dump the whole kettle content into your carboy? Looks like there's a ton of (green) hop debris (from pellet hops) on the bottom.

I siphoned to the carboy and tried to minimize how much gunk I picked up out of the kettle. I'll let it settle for an hour next time.


And I suspect I know the answer to this one, but I'm not seeing much action after 12 hours. Is that OK? My first batch was churning at this point.

 

[IslandLizard]

Forgot to say, aerating (using air) or oxygenating (using pure O2) right before or right after adding your yeast helps in speedy take off and healthy fermentations. I whipped the wort in the bucket with a large whisk for 1 minute, before I bought an oxygenation system.

Now aerating a glass carboy by shaking or rolling it would NOT be deemed safe. And this is not just for the State of California.

 

[Dcpcooks]

You can use an old milk crate to hold a glass carboy and give you some safety. I personally gave up on glass after watching my buddy slice his hand arm and leg open.

 

[z-bob]

Look up "hop spider". You can eliminate a lot of that junk by using one. It *usually* packs way down, and you don't lose near as much beer as you think. Some loss is inevitable.

About the only time I use a secondary fermentor is when the trub is fluffy and doesn't want to compact and is easily stirred up. So I siphon the beer off of 90% of it, and the other 10% makes it into the secondary where it gets another chance to settle-out.