Clear wort?

[Weatherman]

Hi all

I have just started brewing all grain and have done 3x5 litre batches and a 10 litre yesterday.

I have been using Irish moss as a fining 10 mins before finishing the boil. Prior to putting the 20ltr pan in the sink to cool I whirlpooled and then all the proteins etc from the Irish moss adding, generally congregated in the middle as it cooled. Perfect I thought

but, once you start trying to syphon into the FV once cool, the proteins move towards the syphon, as you would expect. I ended up without any clear pools of wort that I could add the syphon too to get a clear extraction.

doing Small batches, is this just something you have to accept or, is there a syphon technique I could use?

i tried a tube filter that just blocked pretty instantly.

does the same thing happen with all in one systems or do the filter plates/bazooka filters stop it?

Many thanks

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Don't worry I pass my wort through a sieve to catch the big stuff but it doesn't need to be clear in the fermenter. Following primary fermentation I cold crash for 2-3 days which clears it a treat. Gravity is your best friend when getting clear beer plus Irish moss. So don't brew in space if you want clear beer.

 

[Weatherman]

I don’t have the facility (yet) for cold crashing. I do however have an ink bird in my stocking and am on the constant search for a freebay fridge!

So is there any need to syphon or can I just dump the kettle in to the FV through a sieve?

 

[Cheshire Cat]

I don’t have the facility (yet) for cold crashing. I do however have an ink bird in my stocking and am on the constant search for a freebay fridge!

So is there any need to syphon or can I just dump the kettle in to the FV through a sieve?

I mainly use a big jug.

 

[Weatherman]

Will try that next time, thanks. It’s going like the clappers in the FV, still looks like a rolling boil!

 

[foxy]

Hi all

I have just started brewing all grain and have done 3x5 litre batches and a 10 litre yesterday.

I have been using Irish moss as a fining 10 mins before finishing the boil. Prior to putting the 20ltr pan in the sink to cool I whirlpooled and then all the proteins etc from the Irish moss adding, generally congregated in the middle as it cooled. Perfect I thought

but, once you start trying to syphon into the FV once cool, the proteins move towards the syphon, as you would expect. I ended up without any clear pools of wort that I could add the syphon too to get a clear extraction.

doing Small batches, is this just something you have to accept or, is there a syphon technique I could use?

i tried a tube filter that just blocked pretty instantly.

does the same thing happen with all in one systems or do the filter plates/bazooka filters stop it?

Many thanks

https://www.themodernbrewhouse.com/trub-seperation-why-and-how/

 

[chthon]

Since two years I just ferment in my boil kettle, without transfer. After five days fermentation I rack into a glass vessel and let it finish there. Then I bottle.

The single factor that benefited me in getting clear beer was also adjusting the pH of my sparge water to 5,5 (in addition to adjusting the pH of my mash). This removed chill haze completely. My beers are clear 14 days after bottling, there might be a bit of yeast haze, but that disappears too over time.

I don't have any temperature controlled gear.

 

[Weatherman]

Here are a couple from a week ago that are conditioning in the warm. It’s lovely and clear but, I did end up loosing about 20% of the very small batch due to the trub and protein balls (for want of a better term?)

 

[chthon]

After racking a small batch, you can filter the rest using a coffee filter. It takes a bit of time, but then you have real clear wort, and you can boil it again.

 

[matt76]

@Weatherman

I make 10-12Lish batches. You most certainly can just dump the entire contents of your kettle into the FV - there seems to be arguments for both sides as to whether this is good or bad.

However, I started going down the "clear beer out of the FV starts with clear wort into the FV" path (a) because I wanted to harvest the yeast cake and (b) to reduce waste - when you're only making 10L every drop is precious!

Here's how I used to do it on the stove top:

Once you've finished chilling sanitise the lid and put it on (or cover it with cling film). Leave it undisturbed to stand at least an hour, maybe more (I usually leave it 2-4 hours). I've even left mine overnight - the wort is sterile, it won't go bad that quick!

The crud will settle to the bottom. Now you can syphon off the crystal clear wort to your FV. Splashing at this stage is good - it will help aerate the wort for a healthier fermentation.

It's important to hold the syphon tube near the surface and gradually lower it down as you go, otherwise you will start sucking up the crud.

You should get 75% or so of your volume into the FV like this. Pitch your yeast as normal, fit the lid and airlock as normal to the FV.

Now you can syphon the crud - all of it - into sanitised leftover 2 & 5L bottles, or just tip it through a sanitised funnel.

(funnels in several sizes are great things to have around, super handy!)

Put the bottles in the fridge to settle out overnight.

(I used to use Tesco Ashbeck so always had loads of empty bottles knocking around on brewday - even though I use tap water nowadays I've kept some that I still reuse)

Once the bottles have settled out, carefully open up the FV and gently pour in the clear wort (no splashing!). I used to get 1-2L extra (from a 10L-ish batch) in the FV like this (less nowadays as my process has improved and I get more clear wort in the FV at the first attempt).

I still brew like this today. The only difference is I brew outdoors in an electric all in one which has a tap so I no longer need to syphon - somehow the crud magically settles below the level of the tap (I still let it stand a few hours first).

I've also added a mash recirc pump this year which has resulted in less crud and more clear wort in the FV at the first attempt. Now there is typically less than 2L crud which nets me an extra 1L when I top up. But the basic approach is still the same as described above.

 

[Weatherman]

Thanks for the detailed reply Matt. I will give it a go. Seems a shame to spend all that time brewing to ditch it, as it turns out unnecessarily.

thanks again.