A little clarity...

[Cheyne_brewer]

Start by resting the wort before transferring to FV. This should let the trub settle below the racking point or tap. If you start with clear wort you have the best chance of clear beer at the end. I use the sight glass on my Hopcat to assess the trub level. I use a whole protofloc per batch and end up with quite a dense layer of trub. Gelatine in the keg / bottles will get you over the line for crystal clear beer.

 

[The Baron]

I add half a protofloc tablet to my brew then leave the wort after boiling for say half an hour before transfer to the FV or if I am whirlpooling which I do a lot I remove the hops then leave again for half an hour for trub to settle out then I can do a pretty clean transfer to the FV.
After fermentation I do a cold crash with a gelatin addition to clear further. My beers are usually fully clear within a week once kegged

 

[SilverShadow]

+1 to protofloc - I add 1/2 a tablet in the last 15 mins of the boil.

Have just started using a sanitised muslin bag (the same one i use for Biab mashing) when transferring to the FV, which seemed to filter out bits of trub quite well. All my hops are in muslin bags, and this time I've removed these when transferring to the FV

I've cold crashed in the keg on my last brew for 2 days (stuck it outside while the temps were low ) and that seemed to work quite well.

I have wondered about how much trub folks allow into the Fv? for me, some is inevitable when gently pouring in, hence the muslin bags. But I'm trying to reduce it each time

 

[The Baron]

Do you leave the boil kettle to settle before transfer as a lot will drop to the bottom you can even whirlpool it by using a large spoon and stir it fastly to create the whirlpool and then leave to settle out for 30 mins

 

[Braufather]

Interested in some of the above comments as i thought current thinking is now it doesn’t matter how clear the beer is going into the fermenter and in fact a good bit of trub helps fermentation and will will drop completely with time? Think Brülosophy did an experiment around this too.

 

[Tess Tickle's Brewery]

Please can I be controversial regarding the protafloc, and say that 1/3 of a tablet is enough unless you want jellyfish beer lol.

The whole tablets are intended for commercial use and for me 1/3 does an exceptional job - more than that is not needed for a normal 23L batch IMHO, and is just a waste of your money.

I crush one tablet to powder in a very small plastic bag with a rolling pin and use it 3 times - the tablets weigh about 2.5g ish so I always use about 0.8g per batch. I weigh it at the same time as the water additions, no effort at all.

 

[SilverShadow]

Do you leave the boil kettle to settle before transfer as a lot will drop to the bottom you can even whirlpool it by using a large spoon and stir it fastly to create the whirlpool and then leave to settle out for 30 mins

Normally I leave it 30+ mins, Baron. So no worries there

It's never trub-free (or should I say trouble-free!). I was interested in Braufathers comments, and whether folks opt to put none, some or all of the trub in.

As mentioned, not sure if this aids fermentation, adds flavour, helps colour

 

[2Beers]

Do you leave the boil kettle to settle before transfer as a lot will drop to the bottom you can even whirlpool it by using a large spoon and stir it fastly to create the whirlpool and then leave to settle out for 30 mins

I've been wondering about this, with my All-in-1 whirlpool and leaving to settle out leaves it all more or less on top of the pump inlet.

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

I’ve recently started using NBS Clarity (Sterilisers, Chemicals and Sundries - NBS Clarity 15ml - The Malt Miller | The Malt Miller) and I have to say my beers do seem to be clearer for it. Apparently it also makes the beer virtually gluten-free which may be good news for anyone who’s intolerant to it. You add 0.5ml at the same time you pitch the yeast.

 

[foxy]

There is a good reason to leave the trub out of the fermenter. The more trub remains, the more undesirable metabolic byproducts can be produced.
Apart from that we all would like as clear a beer as possible, also another reason would be it makes harvesting the yeast a lot easier. When in doubt keep it out.

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

There is a good reason to leave the trub out of the fermenter. The more trub remains, the more undesirable metabolic byproducts can be produced.
Apart from that we all would like as clear a beer as possible, also another reason would be it makes harvesting the yeast a lot easier. When in doubt keep it out.

Hmmm... my boiler has a very efficient pickup (below the hop filter) that leaves virtually nothing in there. However what you say makes me think next time I might try running off into a bucket and then leaving it to settle for a bit before putting it through the counterflow.
I'm always a bit disappointed to see lovely clear beer out of the Burco turn into something like cold-break scrambled egg when I put it through the chiller - but to be fair, it all seems to drop out with the yeast.

 

[foxy]

Hmmm... my boiler has a very efficient pickup (below the hop filter) that leaves virtually nothing in there. However what you say makes me think next time I might try running off into a bucket and then leaving it to settle for a bit before putting it through the counterflow.
I'm always a bit disappointed to see lovely clear beer out of the Burco turn into something like cold-break scrambled egg when I put it through the chiller - but to be fair, it all seems to drop out with the yeast.

What I do is take out as much as possible soon as it starts to pick any thing up STOP! Losses are part and parcel of brewing, but we can reduce it further. Empty the contents of the kettle into a jug put it in the fridge for an hour or two, this will let it settle even further with another couple of litres of collectable wort. Either boil and bottle for starters, or boil and cool and add to the fermenter.
I really avoid using any clearing agents simply because they can strip some colour and also hop aroma.

 

[SilverShadow]

I’ve recently started using NBS Clarity (Sterilisers, Chemicals and Sundries - NBS Clarity 15ml - The Malt Miller | The Malt Miller) and I have to say my beers do seem to be clearer for it. Apparently it also makes the beer virtually gluten-free which may be good news for anyone who’s intolerant to it. You add 0.5ml at the same time you pitch the yeast.

View attachment 64693

Is this is addition to using protofloc/Irish Moss & cold crashing?

Wasn't sure if you'd noticed any +ve or -ve differences to beer flavour when using it?

 

[RoomWithABrew]

@The-Engineer-That-Brews
I use kettle finings and clarity ferm in the fermenter. If I want to eliminate anything else after cold crashing I use Super F before transfer out of the conical and into the keg. I don't use fermentor finings in any beer that is dark, or meant to be cloudy such as wheat beers, hazy ipa. But I do use kettle finings on all my beers.

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

Is this is addition to using protofloc/Irish Moss & cold crashing?

Wasn't sure if you'd noticed any +ve or -ve differences to beer flavour when using it?

Heh - yes, I have been using it in addition to Irish moss in the boil and cold conditioning (I’ve also used gelatine once, on an über-cloudy NZ effort that I accidentally overhopped).
No impact on the flavour/colour that I can detect (I‘m literally only adding a few drops anyhow) but it really does seem to give the clarity of the beer that final ‘polish’

 

[Bolsover Brewer]

Comes down to process, get it wrong and you are chasing your tail. Get it right and depending what is in the grist you can look forward to a bright sparkling beer. No additives required.
https://learn.kegerator.com/brewing-clear-beer/

 

[Skydiver]

Relatively inexperienced Brewer, but I ran into an issue during my first all grain brewing attempt, which really helped clear my beer (when comparing first to second batch).

I had issues with the magnetic pump on my Grainfather, it was running but stopped circulating wort during the mash. I managed to clear the blockage, but in an effort to prevent it from happening again, I bought a Fermzilla false bottom (perforated plate which sits above the heating element, temperature probe and pump pick up), I also tied a small hop bag over the pump pick up. This additional straining/filtering, plus one Whirlfloc (Irish Moss) tablet 10 minutes before end of boil had quite a dramatic effect. I also cold crashed my last batch to 6c for 3 days at the end of fermentation, before letting it rise to 17c for bottling.

Lacking patience (which I'm sure is a common problem), I sampled far too much of this batch to 'test' the carbonation levels almost on a day by day basis, but managed to force myself to leave a few bottles until the 3 week point, which looked like this:

 

[RoomWithABrew]

Clarity with the kettle finings, Clarity ferm, cold crash and SuperF I haven't noticed a flavour change. I do think yeast type also does play a factor, high pressure lager yeast was a sod to clear, yet the right beer was grain to glass with kveik in 10 days.

 

[Tommo 2]

The best aid to clear beer is time, patience is a virtue

 

[RoomWithABrew]

The best aid to clear beer is time, patience is a virtue

Dehydration is a killer!