Excess Trub

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MikeW

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I have just brewed my first all grain lager, very surprised about the amount of trub that has been generated.
The pre-boil is coming out at 1.060 rather than the target 1.051
Thinking about racking off the trub and with the volume lost, top up to bring the value down a bit.
Are there fores and against removing trub. At the moment I have not pitched the yeast.

Cheers
 
Have you transferred your post boil trub to the fermenter? Generally this is left in the kettle.
As for your gravity and volumes with this being your first all grain brew your numbers may be a little off as your system will have losses to consider....grain absorbtion,boil off and kettle loss. It can take a few brews to get this information to make the correct adjustments to arrive at your expected gravity and volumes.
 
Yes it's all in the fermenter, which is in the fridge at 13c.
I realise my volume error. The question is do I just top up to 23L or get rid of the trub while I can.
Just thought I would do a simple strain using a mesh bag.
 
How many litres did you get to fv? The thing is the more you mess with it the more chance it could get infected. Everything that touches it now should be sanitised. You could syphon it off the trub into a sanitised fv. Top up with boiled cooled water. Although I have heard some just tip all the kettle to the fv.
 
I try and leave as much trub behind as possible.
Then you have the problem of too much trub if you tip it all in although it will not harm the beer either way.
Just a choice thing
 
Like Clint says, in the first few runs it will be a lot of trial & error, so stick at it.

If you ferment as is, you will still get beer. You will just need to remember to be careful when bottling or kegging at the end as you will have extra trub at that point.

As an example @MashBag doesn't use a FV. He ferments in the kettle with no (reported) ill effects and reduces his cleaning/washing up overhead.
 
Just top up to required OG and pitch the yeast. The trub isn't going to cause much trouble (or trubble) at lager temperatures. Wait for the first flush of fermentation to be over and when there's a clear compact layer of trub at the bottom of the fermenter rack the beer into secondary fermenter. It doesn't matter is its still cloudy, in fact, the cloudier the better as that's suspended yeast. Don't chiill it for another couple of weeks, in fact yo could let the temperature rise a degree or two.

Next time, pour the bottoms of the kettle into a 3 or 5 litre jug and let the trub settle before adding the clear beer back into the fermenter. (If you want to)
 
Just top up to required OG and pitch the yeast. The trub isn't going to cause much trouble (or trubble) at lager temperatures. Wait for the first flush of fermentation to be over and when there's a clear compact layer of trub at the bottom of the fermenter rack the beer into secondary fermenter. It doesn't matter is its still cloudy, in fact, the cloudier the better as that's suspended yeast. Don't chiill it for another couple of weeks, in fact yo could let the temperature rise a degree or two.

Next time, pour the bottoms of the kettle into a 3 or 5 litre jug and let the trub settle before adding the clear beer back into the fermenter. (If you want to)
Who mentioned lager?

(See.. I was watching)
 
Oh dear, am I learning the etiquette of this forum?
Is posting "lager" like saying Voldemort.
🤭
No. Not at all. This isn't a CAMRA (spelt WANKA) forum. Good lager is good beer. Now that the temperature in my brewery has hit 12C, it'll be lager all the way until end of Feb, for drinking from August onwards. 🍻😁
 
I have just brewed my first all grain lager, very surprised about the amount of trub that has been generated.
The pre-boil is coming out at 1.060 rather than the target 1.051
Thinking about racking off the trub and with the volume lost, top up to bring the value down a bit.
Are there fores and against removing trub. At the moment I have not pitched the yeast.

Cheers
How did you check the gravity reading, did you check it in the fermenter or the kettle? I would do as suggested above by An Ankoù pitch your yeast, the longer it is left and faffed around with the more chance of an infection. All mistakes are a good teacher, next time leave the trub in the kettle, one can't get a grip on the efficiency as efficiency is measured as wort into fermenter, not wort and trub into the fermenter.
 
Thanks everyone, FV now topped up and yeast pitched. I will worry about the trub when I syphon to batch prime.
My error or one of many was to pour the kettle contents into the FV. The new kettle I acquired had a very slow tap, with hindsight I should have waited and left the dregs in the bottom.
This is where I got all my volumes wrong, I will ask advice on boil off efficiency on a new posting later on.
 

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