Trub Dump Question

[ace0005]

I'm curious to know when you guys dump your trub. Do you wait for fermentation to stop? Or, do you do it when fermentation slows down?

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

I'm curious to know when you guys dump your trub.

If I’m using anything but a conical with a dump port. When fermentation is done and I’m ready to package. A conical I wait until fermentation is done as well, dump the trub then it becomes a secondary without disturbing the beverage.

 

[hotbeer]

In my conical I wait till it packs down enough to not waste a lot of beer when dumped. Sometimes I have to do several small dumps as beer wants to push past the trub sometimes.

In my carboy and jug fermenters, I dump the trub after I've racked the beer out and bottled it. I'm a little conflicted right now as the beers I've done that sat on a thick trub layer for a long time seem to always be the beers I like.

So I might wait till nearly bottling time to dump the trub on my upcoming batches I do in the conical.

 

[bailey mountain brewer]

Boy, lots of possibilities, depends on the beer. Typically after fermentation and some sort of soft crash. That's for my conicals. If it's in a carboy it stays for the full ride, unnnlesss I'm transferring to another vessel for fruiting, then usually right before fermentation is done. Though 90% fit in the after fermentation, post soft crash realm. The soft crash just helps the the yeasties to drop out better.

 

[redrocker652002]

For me, I use a bucket fermenter so I just wait until it is either in the keg or bottles and dump it. But, I am going to try and reuse it. I think I read you leave a little beer in the bucket, swirl it up and put it in mason jars and fridge it and it is supposed to be good for a few months. But, I digress, for me, I wait until it is on the packaging and then dump it in the street and wash everything down so the neighbor doesn't *****. LOL

 

[Dland]

I do a trub dump and gravity reading when the fermentation starts to slow. Good way to time when to rack to kegs and spund.

Sometimes I'll also dump after cold break if I think some excess solids got into fermentor, or if I'm on a multi yeast cake run and there are extra yeast solids building up.

This applies to conical with dump port, with other rigs, this might not be so easy.

 

[Bobby_M]

I'm assuming it's a conical because "dumping trub" is generally isolated to that. You should dump trub when you reach pitching temp but before pitching in the yeast. The next time you'd want to dump is just before a (post ferment) dry hop and/or a day or few hours before moving the beer to packaging. If you're dry hopping at peak fermentation for biotransformation then no you wouldn't dump.

 

[RyPA]

Is dumping trub beneficial if i do not plan to harvest yeast? I am debating between the fermzilla all rounder and tri-conical. With my fridge space, i only have room to cold crash in the all rounder.

All rounder: no dropping trub, can cold crash
Tri conical: can drop trub, cannot cold crash

Which is more important

 

[Dland]

Is dumping trub beneficial if i do not plan to harvest yeast? I am debating between the fermzilla all rounder and tri-conical. With my fridge space, i only have room to cold crash in the all rounder.

All rounder: no dropping trub, can cold crash
Tri conical: can drop trub, cannot cold crash

Which is more important

Even if not reusing yeast, capability to do a trub dump is useful, especially if your brewing process puts a lot of hot break trub in the fermentor. Some say tons of solids sitting around at bottom does not matter, and perhaps that is true for some brews. But not in my experiance for what I brew.

One does not necessarily have to choose on over the other. I use an old conical with an exterior cooling coil for fermentation temp control, which is good enough for fermentation, but would be inefficient for cold crash. I rack to kegs and cold crash in them in keezer. That way I can also spund carbonate and D rest if needed before cold crash & conditioning.

 

[RyPA]

Even if not reusing yeast, capability to do a trub dump is useful, especially if your brewing process puts a lot of hot break trub in the fermentor. Some say tons of solids sitting around at bottom does not matter, and perhaps that is true for some brews. But not in my experiance for what I brew.

One does not necessarily have to choose on over the other. I use an old conical with an exterior cooling coil for fermentation temp control, which is good enough for fermentation, but would be inefficient for cold crash. I rack to kegs and cold crash in them in keezer. That way I can also spund carbonate and D rest if needed before cold crash & conditioning.

I am trying to choose one or the other since i currently have no fermenters, and i do not want to buy 2, right now at least, which brings my post/question. 95% of my brews are NEIPA’s. Is the ability to drop trub more important than allowing cold crash, that decides my fermenter.

 

[day_trippr]

I can't drop trub as I ferment in carboys, but I can cold crash, and given the amount of hop pellets I use for my neipas it is important to be able to soft-crash yeast to the bottom, dry hop cool, then hard-crash the pellet mush to the bottom before racking to kegs.

My whole process would fall apart without being able to crash. Filtering pellet mush would be a pita and bound to introduce oxygen. Don't even want to think about it!

Cheers!

 

[Dland]

I am trying to choose one or the other since i currently have no fermenters, and i do not want to buy 2, right now at least, which brings my post/question. 95% of my brews are NEIPA’s. Is the ability to drop trub more important than allowing cold crash, that decides my fermenter.

I was not trying to suggest you buy two fermentors. I was saying you do not necessarily have to crash in primary fermentor if you rack to keg(s) and then cold crash in them. This is assuming that kegs will fit in your refrigerator.

I think both cold crashing and ability to do a trub dump are important, at least for my brewing process, though many make good beer without doing trub dump.

 

[Bobby_M]

You can't cold crash the Tri-conical because it won't fit in your fridge but the all rounder will?

So, it's more like:
A) The ability to temp control ferments and/or cold crash.
vs.
B) The ability to dump trub but NOT control temps.

I'd pick A without any hesitation if that's the situation. I suppose you can get away without cold crashing if you had to, but temp controlling fermentation is not something I'd ever suggest skipping over.

Assuming you don't want to harvest yeast, the best way to accommodate the undumpable trub is to leave as much of it in your boil kettle as possible. Chill and whirlpool in the kettle, allow for 40 minutes of settling time, then transfer to FV.

 

[RyPA]

You can't cold crash the Tri-conical because it won't fit in your fridge but the all rounder will?

So, it's more like:
A) The ability to temp control ferments and/or cold crash.
vs.
B) The ability to dump trub but NOT control temps.

I'd pick A without any hesitation if that's the situation. I suppose you can get away without cold crashing if you had to, but temp controlling fermentation is not something I'd ever suggest skipping over.

Assuming you don't want to harvest yeast, the best way to accommodate the undumpable trub is to leave as much of it in your boil kettle as possible. Chill and whirlpool in the kettle, allow for 40 minutes of settling time, then transfer to FV.

Yes, exactly, ands that's where my head was at as well. I am hoping I see significant improvement by dropping yeast before dry hopping.

 

[wepeeler]

I'm assuming it's a conical because "dumping trub" is generally isolated to that. You should dump trub when you reach pitching temp but before pitching in the yeast. The next time you'd want to dump is just before a (post ferment) dry hop and/or a day or few hours before moving the beer to packaging. If you're dry hopping at peak fermentation for biotransformation then no you wouldn't dump.

I've been toying with the idea of dumping trub before pitching, but haven't pulled the trigger yet as I'm usually scrambling to get brew day over with. I've done everything from dumping my entire kettle into my fermenter, to using a hop stopper (which took 5000 years), to now using a pump to transfer my wort (after whirlpooling). I will say, the beer I made with the hop stopper was by far the clearest wort into the fermenter, and it turned out stellar. Not sure if that was coincidental or not, but...it got the wheels turning.

I think for my next heavily hopped beer I might dump trub before pitching.

 

[RyPA]

You can't cold crash the Tri-conical because it won't fit in your fridge but the all rounder will?

So, it's more like:
A) The ability to temp control ferments and/or cold crash.
vs.
B) The ability to dump trub but NOT control temps.

I'd pick A without any hesitation if that's the situation. I suppose you can get away without cold crashing if you had to, but temp controlling fermentation is not something I'd ever suggest skipping over.

Assuming you don't want to harvest yeast, the best way to accommodate the undumpable trub is to leave as much of it in your boil kettle as possible. Chill and whirlpool in the kettle, allow for 40 minutes of settling time, then transfer to FV.

I've been toying with the idea of dumping trub before pitching, but haven't pulled the trigger yet as I'm usually scrambling to get brew day over with. I've done everything from dumping my entire kettle into my fermenter, to using a hop stopper (which took 5000 years), to now using a pump to transfer my wort (after whirlpooling). I will say, the beer I made with the hop stopper was by far the clearest wort into the fermenter, and it turned out stellar. Not sure if that was coincidental or not, but...it got the wheels turning.

I think for my next heavily hopped beer I might dump trub before pitching.

Also want to add that I am not sure if I am transferring wort from my Anvil Foundry to fermenter the best way possible. What I do is have my whirlpool running, using the Anvil Swirly arm, with the pump on full speed throughout the cooling process. Once I reach the desired temp, I remove the immersion chiller, turn off the pump and get the fermenter ready for the transfer. Within 5 minutes I begin transferring to the fermenter, using the swirly arm as my means of getting the wort from kettle to fermenter; I lift the swirly arm out of the kettle and place it in my fermenter then turn the pump on, I keep it raised a bit to encourage O2 ingestion.

My whirlpool swirly arm is fed by the ball valve at the bottom of the Foundry, which its input opening is facing the bottom of the kettle. Is this ideal, or should I face it upward to avoid sucking up stuff that settled? Also considering letting the chilled wort settle for 10-15 minutes before transferring to the fermenter.

I'll take any recommendations others have for improving this process.

 

[wepeeler]

Also want to add that I am not sure if I am transferring wort from my Anvil Foundry to fermenter the best way possible. What I do is have my whirlpool running, using the Anvil Swirly arm, with the pump on full speed throughout the cooling process. Once I reach the desired temp, I remove the immersion chiller, turn off the pump and get the fermenter ready for the transfer. Within 5 minutes I begin transferring to the fermenter, using the swirly arm as my means of getting the wort from kettle to fermenter; I lift the swirly arm out of the kettle and place it in my fermenter then turn the pump on, I keep it raised a bit to encourage O2 ingestion.

My whirlpool swirly arm is fed by the ball valve at the bottom of the Foundry, which its input opening is facing the bottom of the kettle. Is this ideal, or should I face it upward to avoid sucking up stuff that settled? Also considering letting the chilled wort settle for 10-15 minutes before transferring to the fermenter.

I'll take any recommendations others have for improving this process.

I basically doing the same thing from my Foundry, but not from the swirly arm. I use the pump and remove the hose from the swirly arm and straight into the fermenter. I actually like the idea of just using the swirly arm! BUT, by doing what we're doing we are not getting the clearest wort into the fermenter.

 

[RyPA]

I basically doing the same thing from my Foundry, but not from the swirly arm. I use the pump and remove the hose from the swirly arm and straight into the fermenter. I actually like the idea of just using the swirly arm! BUT, by doing what we're doing we are not getting the clearest wort into the fermenter.

Why not just use the swirly arm attachment? It's still essentially just a hose connected to your pump, and assuming you use it while chilling, it's already connected to your pump, sanitized, and ready to go.

What do you mean by "BUT, by doing what we're doing we are not getting the clearest wort into the fermenter." ?

 

[wepeeler]

Why not just use the swirly arm attachment? It's still essentially just a hose connected to your pump, and assuming you use it while chilling, it's already connected to your pump, sanitized, and ready to go.

What do you mean by "BUT, by doing what we're doing we are not getting the clearest wort into the fermenter." ?

It was only my second brew with the Foundry, so I'm still learning. Never occurred to me to use the swirly arm to transfer to the fermenter.

By pumping the wort into our fermenters, we're not getting clear wort into the fermenter. We're sucking up hops/trub and pumping it right into the fermenter.

 

[RyPA]

It was only my second brew with the Foundry, so I'm still learning. Never occurred to me to use the swirly arm to transfer to the fermenter.

By pumping the wort into our fermenters, we're not getting clear wort into the fermenter. We're sucking up hops/trub and pumping it right into the fermenter.

Oh i gotcha. Yeah i am wondering if the little tube at the bottom that feeds the ball valve should be angled upwards, or sideways. I also thought about buying a racking cane and using that, so i can begin transferring from the top. That combined with letting the wort rest for a bit after chilling will allow the trub to settle

 

[wepeeler]

Oh i gotcha. Yeah i am wondering if the little tube at the bottom that feeds the ball valve should be angled upwards, or sideways. I also thought about buying a racking can and using that, so i can begin transferring from the top. That combined with letting the wort rest for a bit after chilling will allow the trub to settle

I have no clue either. I used to dump everything from the kettle into the fermenter and make solid beer, so...who knows lol. I used a hop stopper once and got crystal clear wort into the fermenter. It was once of my best homebrews. But it could have been coincidental...