How much beer do you leave in fermenter when you put into kegs?

[Omega]

My last batch of IPA was quite bitter. I guess because I collected everything I could into kegs from Apollo 30 L Unitank Pressure fermenter.
How much do you leave in you fermenter so that your brew is not that bitter? Mine is bitter when you start dispensing, but then it becomes fine, therefore I suspect it is because I collected too much sediments (I get sedimentation in the glasses) from the bottom and transfer into the kegs.
Thanks

 

[Clarence]

I bottle rather than keg, but the principle is the same: I leave about half a litre in the fermenter so that I can swirl the top of the yeast cake and harvest some yeast.
Depending on the yeast, if it's one that compacts nicely I'll bottle direct from the fermenter and if its a fluffy one I'll rack the beer into a secondary fermentet to allow the beer to clear. Here's where the principle is the same: I pour the beer carefully, leaving the yeast behind in the bottle. If I get a cloudy pint then I've messed it up. Similarly you should dispense from above the layer of settled yeast in your keg. You certainly shouldn't be getting cloudy pints. The only exception to this is when you make a yeasty beer like hefeweisen.

 

[xozzx]

Are you cold crashing? This makes a big difference in how much sediment you transfer.
I also use a bouncer filter with the blue fine filter inline when transferring to kegs to catch any larger sediment I might disturb.

 

[MashBag]

If I have read this correctly we are talking about "racking off"

It isn't a set volume, its a separation technique.
Syphon on clear liquid away, and stop just before the hose fills with the rubbish.

 

[Graz]

I try to get as much as possible, probably because I'm tight and hate wasting beer

On a beer without any dry hops added I'll just use a normal siphon trap and gently lower it into the brew as the level goes down so I'm always taking beer from an inch or so below the surface. As it gets near the end I gently lower it so it is resting on the yeast cake but not sucking beer through it. As it gets really low I'll gently tip the fermenter to keep it going. I can see as it gets down to the dregs as to when it starts to draw in a little yeast sediment and then I'll withdraw the siphon to stop the flow. I'm typically then left with just the yeast and maybe a couple of mm covering it.

If it is dry hopped I cold crash and use one of those little stainless steel mesh filters on the end of the siphon tube, but other than that same principles as above.

Beer always tastes fine and clears well after a few weeks in the keg unless it's meant to be cloudy. Never get any hop bits in it either.

 

[MashBag]

I also use a bouncer filter with the blue fine filter inline when transferring to kegs to catch any larger sediment I might disturb.

I read this and thought wtf is a "bouncer filter" particularly as I was looking at filters yesterday and had found a good idea on amazon.

Imagine my surprise..

 

[xozzx]

The red filter that comes with it is next to useless, I see there is now a white one which is even finer than the blue.

 

[MashBag]

Going to look into this. How many microns are they? Have to say they look the bees knees.

 

[MashBag]

Bouncer Classic Replacement Screens Pack of 2 - 50 & 80 Mesh 744271807578 | eBay

Contains:
- 1x blue 304 micron
- 1x white 178 micron

 

[Old Fart At Play]

Perfect example of how useful this forum is. Never heard of a bouncer filter. Sounds worth a try!

 

[Clarence]

I try to get as much as possible, probably because I'm tight and hate wasting beer

On a beer without any dry hops added I'll just use a normal siphon trap and gently lower it into the brew as the level goes down so I'm always taking beer from an inch or so below the surface. As it gets near the end I gently lower it so it is resting on the yeast cake but not sucking beer through it. As it gets really low I'll gently tip the fermenter to keep it going. I can see as it gets down to the dregs as to when it starts to draw in a little yeast sediment and then I'll withdraw the siphon to stop the flow. I'm typically then left with just the yeast and maybe a couple of mm covering it.

If it is dry hopped I cold crash and use one of those little stainless steel mesh filters on the end of the siphon tube, but other than that same principles as above.

Beer always tastes fine and clears well after a few weeks in the keg unless it's meant to be cloudy. Never get any hop bits in it either.

Sounds like you're doing everything right. Perhaps you're a little impatient as I would have thought a little bit of yeast in the keg to clean up any off-flavours over a two-week period of settling and maturation would be ideal.

 

[Omega]

Are you cold crashing? This makes a big difference in how much sediment you transfer.
I also use a bouncer filter with the blue fine filter inline when transferring to kegs to catch any larger sediment I might disturb.

I didn’t know I had to cold crush. I can as now I have fridge and temperature control. However, the recipes don’t mention this part

 

[xozzx]

I didn’t know I had to cold crush. I can as now I have fridge and temperature control. However, the recipes don’t mention this part

If you have temp control then it is definitely worth cold crashing to about 2C for a few days. Just remember that when you drop the temperature the airlock/blowoff will suck back inwards (pressure inside the fermenter will drop). If you have something you can fill with CO2 and connect on in place of an airlock then this will prevent it sucking in air.
I use a blowoff and have a couple of 1L gas sampling bags I fill with CO2 from the sodastream, before cold crashing I remove the blowoff from the jar of starsan and connect the gas bags.