Syphoning, preparing for, then best way to leave crap behind?

[Nial]

This is a photo of a Youngs Pale Ale brew after I'd syphoned it into a pressure barrel.

You'll see that there is a _lot_ of crud on the top.

Initially when I was syphoning I was getting fairly clear liquid out, but after a while I couldn't avoid 'bits' and what ended up in the pressure barrel was pretty cloudy.

Before I started syponing I took a sample from the top of the FV, this was relatively clear.

I'm picking up far too much crud in the process, I think this might explain why my first two Youngs kits tasted 'odd' until they had quite a
long time to condition. This might also explain why commercial beers don't need as long to condition (better extraction/ filtering)?

Unfortunately I realised the shelf the FV was on in my beer fridge was too low to syphon into my pressure barrel so I had to shift it. Time pressures meant I was only able to let it settle for an hour or so.

So the questions...
1) What's the best preparation before syphoning?

Crash the temperature in the beer fridge for a week?

Scoop off much of the hop pellet crud off the top?

2) What's the best way to do the syphoning?

Stick my auto syphon in to the bottom and just extract everything from there?

Add a tap to the FV so I can extract from just above the trub?

Thanks for any pointers,

Nial.



What'

 

[Leon103]

Cold crash for a few days. On bottling day syphon through a sieve and then let the bottling bucket sit and settle.

 

[chuffer]

I did the same brew and didn't get anything like that.....though I dry-hopped using a Muslin bag

 

[Covrich]

Cold crashing is handy if you can do it.. I do it but only sometimes.. other times I cannot.. it isn't necessary just nice if you can do it..

I would say dry hop with a muslin bag and before you do siphon, IF you have had to move your FV leave it for at least an hour to resettle..

place your siphon in and close to you so in essence I have it pulled to the wall of teh fermenter and not floating around the middle. As the wort goes down I slowly tip the fermenter towards me keeping the siphon pressed against the walland teh tip does not going into the slurry..

 

[BeerisGOD]

Hi Nial

I cant really give any advise as to what to do with this batch now aprt from leave as long as you can in the bottles during the conditioning phase, in youre case around ten weeks or so. so get doing another batch! But what id do for the next one would be a lot easier..

I would strongly recommend a bottling bucket to transfer your beer to bottles rather than secondary, along with a 23l auto syphon (which ul be able to rest on the trub whilst you concentrate on temporary cover for the vessels) and muslin bags to dry hop!

Theres lots of details i probably need to be a bit clearer on but as im at work this is the best i can do for now.

Good luck with the next 1!:grin:

 

[Bigcol49]

Hi!
Even a few inches will be enough to get the syphon flowing, so try it with the PB on the floor and the FV in the fridge - if there isn't enough height in the fridge for your auto-syphon, try the old suck-it-and-see method with only a syphon tube .
I also syphon through a sieve lined with muslin.

 

[klaus]

Always syphon from the bottom (you need the "thingy" for the end to avoid going into the slurry). I am greedy and want as much of the beer in the bottles or keg so I accept there will be some cloudiness but this clears anyway. Never done cold-crashing so can't advise on that.

 

[pms67]

I never transfer to a secondary fv anymore,cold crash to four degrees for two days knocks most hops out of suspension, i just batch prime then bottle or minikeg it,any crap is usually compact in the bottle and isn't a problem or issue at all imo.
All my beers seem to clear ok (except Festival Razorback!)

 

[Cwrw666]

Don't syphon.
Put a funnel in the top of your pressure barrel and pour your beer in. Most of the c**p will be in the bottom of the FV. Do a continuous steady pour so as not to stir the muck up and when you get to the end of the clear stuff, stop.
I hardly ever use a syphon anymore. Even demijohns of wine are easier to transfer into a bottling bucket by pouring rather than syphoning.
Oh yes, and it's much much quicker too.

 

[HisDudeness]

Put a small muslin bag (sterilised) over the end of the syphon dip tube thingy and it will stop hops and large particles getting through, if you are syphoning to a PB don't stress about it cos the crap will settle out at the bottom anyway

 

[terrym]

My practice is to let the primary more or less finish, say 7/8 days 'normally', then rack off to a secondary FV, dry hop in a weighted muslin bag, keep it at primary fermentation temperatures for three days, giving it a swirl once or twice a day for three days to move the hop bag around, then leave it alone in the coolest place I have which is my unheated garage for another three days, then put in bottle or PB
I don't have a brew fridge, but do find that the yeast load carried forward is much reduced by racking off, and the muslin bag stops hop carry over.
Works fine for me.

 

[Nial]

Thanks for the input guys.

Opinion seems to be....

1) Chill it for a few days first.

2) Don't move the FV, I'll build up the shelf in my fridge by a couple of inches so I can syphon directly from there.

3) Use a muslin back for the dry hopping.

Hopefully if I do this I'll get much clearer beers that will clear/ condition faster!

 

[chuffer]

Put a small muslin bag (sterilised) over the end of the syphon dip tube thingy and it will stop hops and large particles getting through

Reckon this is the best remedy to the current situation

 

[BeerisGOD]

Hi Hisdudeness, is this how you normally dry hop? or is this just the best option in Nial's situation?

As in throw pellets in loose and syphon later with this technique you've provided

 

[HisDudeness]

Hi Hisdudeness, is this how you normally dry hop? or is this just the best option in Nial's situation?

As in throw pellets in loose and syphon later with this technique you've provided

Yes this is how I always dry hop, I would rather have hops/pellets floating free so there is maximum surface area in contact with the beer. I find given time and if necessary a cold crash pellets should settle out to the bottom and will only trouble your filter when trying to get the last litre or so.

 

[BeerisGOD]

so do you cold crash the secondary or primary? I don't secondary so can only try to lower the temp by removing the heat belt and maybe using an ice bath. would this be worth trying?

 

[Slid]

Don't syphon.
Put a funnel in the top of your pressure barrel and pour your beer in. Most of the c**p will be in the bottom of the FV. Do a continuous steady pour so as not to stir the muck up and when you get to the end of the clear stuff, stop.
I hardly ever use a syphon anymore. Even demijohns of wine are easier to transfer into a bottling bucket by pouring rather than syphoning.
Oh yes, and it's much much quicker too.

This does sound like an approach!

Only downside is that, if I remember correctly, from a "pictures" thread, it may be somewhat easier for Cwrw666 to manhandle 40 pints in an FV than for some of the rest of us.

"Use both hands" is the best I can add.