Hi all, just finished brewing up a Sierra Madre Pale Ale extract kit from Northern Brewer. this is my third time brewing so not sure if I actually did something wrong or not. There is a large amount of trub (that’s the right term correct?) at the bottom of the fermenter... it’s above the spigot so looks like i’ll need to invest in an auto siphon before bottling. I did my best to make sure i stopped pouring into the fermenter when all the trub started but i was in a dark room and had a hard time telling... it also seemed like there was a lot of this suspended that wouldn’t settle. The kit called for 2 OZ of hop additions at the end of the boil, so i killed the heat and then threw in the hops. was this the right way to do this? Will this be salvageable?
What did i do wrong?
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The trub should compact into quite smaller layer after it sits awhile and ferments.
I took a quick glance at the recipe instructions, and it says 2oz addition at 0m. That’s also known as a flameout addition, so you performed that perfectly.
I took a quick glance at the recipe instructions, and it says 2oz addition at 0m. That’s also known as a flameout addition, so you performed that perfectly.
D.B.Moody
Well-Known Member
What does this mean? What were you pouring into the fermenter. Are you saying all that trub was at the bottom of your boil pot? Do you mean pouring into a secondary fermenter? Do you mean a bottling bucket? In either case, why are you pouring instead of siphoning?
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I could be wrong obviously, but since he had said he just finished brewing I would assume it’s kettle to fermenter.
this was all being poured from the boil kettle to the primary fermenter. what i mean is that there was a lot of debris from what i assume to be the hops that got into the primary fermenter... i just wanted to be sure i did everything correctly since i’ve never had this much trub in the fermenter before.
I personally try to limit as much trub as possible, but I have heard of folks who dump the entire kettle into the fermenter. I'm not sure who these monsters are, but they do exist.
When I'm trying to save every last drop from my kettle ( I use a mash & boil...early on my volumes were sketchy at best), I have had trub probably a third of the way up my 3G fermonster. It's always settled out underneath the yeast cake, well below the spigot. The only hiccup I could see here is that it looks like you're using a NB bottling bucket as a fermenter, and I believe that spigot is generally positioned lower than it would on an actual fermenter. It could be an issue in that case, but you could also try to wedge up that section of the bucket in order to get it to settle at an angle, away from the spigot.
When I'm trying to save every last drop from my kettle ( I use a mash & boil...early on my volumes were sketchy at best), I have had trub probably a third of the way up my 3G fermonster. It's always settled out underneath the yeast cake, well below the spigot. The only hiccup I could see here is that it looks like you're using a NB bottling bucket as a fermenter, and I believe that spigot is generally positioned lower than it would on an actual fermenter. It could be an issue in that case, but you could also try to wedge up that section of the bucket in order to get it to settle at an angle, away from the spigot.
This is good to hear! I may try what you recommended of wedging the fermenter a but to help it settle away from the spigot. worst case scenario i’ll buy an auto siphon and not use the spigot when racking to the bottling bucket.
D.B.Moody
Well-Known Member
I'm one of those monsters.
I'm an extract brewer and have been since 1994. I don't see trub in my brew kettle. Hops and a few stray steeping grains, but not trub. Of course I just pour it all in.That does look like a bottling bucket and I had assumed that this was an extract brew as it was only his third. Maybe I was wrong about that too.
I don't suppose it would be good form for me to mention that I've never used or even actually seen an auto siphon.
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Was this a brew in a bag recipe by any chance? The one and only time I ever did BIAB I got a layer that started out like that. But later it settled to a much thinner layer. I don’t know why BIAB batches do that. When I use my Anvil Foundry I don’t get that. Probably because there is no vorlauf or recirculation with BIAB and you’re getting all the real fine tiny bits that would normally end up on top of the grain bed after recirculation.
This was last year but here’s what mine looked like in a 5 gallon carboy:
This did settle after a few days.
This was last year but here’s what mine looked like in a 5 gallon carboy:
This did settle after a few days.
Velnerj
Simul justus et potator
You're going to be fine. This happens to me all the time because I'm one of the monsters that dump everything into the fermenter. It's quite normal to have the trub above the spigot...
When you transfer to your bottling bucket a bit of trub will go there but the liquid will create a tunnel to the spigot and very little will actually be transferred (even less if you cold crash). Just watch out at the end because the trub will start flowing after the liquid has been drained. By the time the beer settles in the bottling bucket all the debris will be below that spigot and very little if any will go into your bottles.
When you transfer to your bottling bucket a bit of trub will go there but the liquid will create a tunnel to the spigot and very little will actually be transferred (even less if you cold crash). Just watch out at the end because the trub will start flowing after the liquid has been drained. By the time the beer settles in the bottling bucket all the debris will be below that spigot and very little if any will go into your bottles.
There are enough to warrant at least 3 different Brulosophy experiments examining the concept. Spoiler: trub didn't ruin any beers.
https://brulosophy.com/2020/05/11/kettle-trub-low-vs-high-in-a-german-pils-exbeeriment-results/https://brulosophy.com/2015/03/22/the-impact-of-kettle-trub-part-2-exbeeriment-results/https://brulosophy.com/2014/06/02/the-great-trub-exbeeriment-results-are-in/
I’ve listened to at least one of those and remember that being the result. Even more reason to not worry about the OP’s batch.
@Jbone1072 You will be fine. I am one of those monsters @Immocles speaks of also. (LOL) I agree about propping the spigot side up and you might be surprised on how that "stuff" will compact by the time fermentation is done. You didn't say if you used a hop bag or not. I use them and they keep most of hop material inside of them rather than loose in the boil pot.
Something you might do when it comes time to transfer, if you use the spigot, run the first second or two into a glass. The first blast coming out will have "stuff" that settled in the spigot, just a couple of oz's is all that's needed to clean out the spigot.
Cheers,
Joel B.
Something you might do when it comes time to transfer, if you use the spigot, run the first second or two into a glass. The first blast coming out will have "stuff" that settled in the spigot, just a couple of oz's is all that's needed to clean out the spigot.
Cheers,
Joel B.
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First thing I noticed. Bottling bucket, not fermenter.
And for what it's worth, I always let the thrub settle for at least an hour in the kettle after cooling the wort. It compacts and most of it stays in the kettle.
Thank you everyone for the reply’s. I was mostly concerned that i may have done something wrong with the flameout hop additions since i hadn’t done that before. I may look into a hop filter to use during boils so i can avoid this in the future. As far as the fermenter goes, NB advertises the bucket as dual purpose for both a fermenter and bottling bucket. It was part of the starter kit i bought a year ago. I’ll most likely be upgrading to a big mouth bubbler soon-ish but the buckets have worked for me so far.
Siphonless big mouth bubbler is a great low cost fermenter. I also have one without the spigot and its completely reduced to water holding duty at this point. I used buckets for a bit, but I like watching and admiring active fermentation.
