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If you can cold crash your fermenter any trub will fall out into a nice pancake you can leave behind when you transfer.
Excess Trub
- Thread starter MikeW
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Emptying the kettle via the tap will also require a bit of getting used to.
It can be very slow because it gets blocked with trub/hop debris.
Then you can try various means to get round it depending on your kit, such as:
Whirlpool at the end of the boil so the trub settles out mostly in the centre of the kettle.
Using a bazooka filter on the inside of the tap.
Leaving the false bottom in for the boil (I found this effective when I loose leaf hops)
I use a bazooka filter in the kettle. I leave my mash paddle in the kettle after whizzing it round during the chill,it's now sterilised having been boiled,then after leaving the trub to settle I gently scrape the top of the filter to shift a bit. On emptying the kettle a bit of trub goes down the pipe to start but as the transfer continues the rest of the trub just settles into a mass.
Your volumes are easily calculated, just keep notes on how much water you use at each bit and add or subtract as required.
For example for 23l... Iose 2.5 litres per kg of grain in your mash...you lose a litre per kg through absorption. My sparge is around 23l. Kettle loss a couple of litres depending on hop additions, the rest is boil off. I'm usually 22/23 litres to fv but I'm not bothered if it's slightly out...its all beer!
Your volumes are easily calculated, just keep notes on how much water you use at each bit and add or subtract as required.
For example for 23l... Iose 2.5 litres per kg of grain in your mash...you lose a litre per kg through absorption. My sparge is around 23l. Kettle loss a couple of litres depending on hop additions, the rest is boil off. I'm usually 22/23 litres to fv but I'm not bothered if it's slightly out...its all beer!
An Ankoù
Landlord.
Let's get real here. If the weather's agreeable (no wind to blow the gas flame about) I brew a big batch outdoors. The trub settles, the beer in the fermenter is clear-ish and I pour the end of the kettle into a big jug and let the tub settle again. I lose about 1½ litres of pure crud.
If the weather's foul, I brew indoors and make a 12 litre batch. The hops are contained in bags, apart from which, the whole lot goes into the fermenter. I've neve noticed the slightest difference in beer quality.
If the weather's foul, I brew indoors and make a 12 litre batch. The hops are contained in bags, apart from which, the whole lot goes into the fermenter. I've neve noticed the slightest difference in beer quality.
I think yeast like to eat the cold break.
But the thicker hot break has tannins which ideally you’d want to leave in kettle or somehow remove from fermentor before day 3. Next time you could skim that when reaching boil as preventative measure.
But the thicker hot break has tannins which ideally you’d want to leave in kettle or somehow remove from fermentor before day 3. Next time you could skim that when reaching boil as preventative measure.
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Hi Clint, please could you clarify the "For example for 23l... Iose 2.5 litres per kg of grain in your mash...you lose a litre per kg through absorption. "
With a grain bill of 5.5Kg is it 2.5/Kg or 1L/Kg" Sorry to appear thick.
And is 10% a good figure to use for boil off loses when using a 2.2Kw element for a 60 mins?
HeathenOnly Carlsberg know how to make Lager
Improbably, or should that be unprobably or even impossibly
That's a rough breakdown of my system...Igloo mash tun, 32l kettle on my gas range. All systems are different. I wouldn't know where to start with an all in one system.
I mash in using 2.5l of water per kg of grain. After sparging the grain bed retains about 1l per kg,this is a loss.
Once you do a few brews you will soon start to collect enough information to make the changes you need.
An easy way would be something like if after boil off you were 2 litres short for your fv and you kept your mash and sparge volumes unchanged you could increase your sparge water next time.
And remember...we all hadn't got a clue when we started out!
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