I just brewed my first batch over the weekend (Irish Red Ale - extract kit). I purchased the NB Premium homebrew kit which includes the Megapot 1.2 with ball-valve.
My Question:
The ball valve has a right-angle tube that pushes into the ball valve. I assumed this was designed to point downward but I’m not so sure anymore. When it was time to xfer to the primary fermenter this angled piece picked up a bunch of the sludge/crap-o-la on the bottom of my boil pot. Seems it would be better to either remove this piece or to rotate it 90* (so it’s not sucking/draining off the bottom of the pot).
What the heck is the purpose of that angled piece? Did I have it set-up incorrectly? I’m not really worried about crap/sludge in my first batch of beer…I’m pretty sure everything will settle out over the next several weeks during the first (and second) fermentation.
Yes, these diptubes are designed to allow you to get as much liquid out as possible. To avoid the crap-o-la, normally you’d want to create a whirlpool so the solids settle in the middle or you can rotate up slightly so you can leave more solids (and liquid) behind.
You are correct that most of the those solids will settle out, so it really isn’t much to worry about.
Whirlpool your wort in the same direction it points. Start your Whirlpool a minute or so before opening the valve. The sludge or break will all collect in the center of the pot. It works
When you say create a whirlpool is it just as simple as using my spoon to stir the pot(obviously I don’t want to stir up the sludge and re-suspend it in the liquid). Not a ton of room in there with the wort chiller but at that point I guess I can take it out and stir at the top of the pot today create the whirlpool at the bottom.
Called trub… Brew with a bit more emphasis on the final volume in the keg… I put my hops in a stainless steel basket… Trying to eliminate the the trub from plugging the pump… I did have on my old system, a trub ring… And yes I did stir the boiling wort a vehement as I could without spilling… It did work…
There are many ways to eliminate the trub… But if you just get passed it… You’ll leave it behind in the fermenter… Sneezles61
You might also look more into skipping the second fermentation. Lots of us let the beer sit in the primary for the entire time and then just bottle or keg from there.
@Grantmesteven - I’ve done ‘some’ researsearch but not exhaustive research. Most of what I’ve read is people recommending a second fermentation to those only doing a single. I’m interested in why your recommendation is the other way around.
Also…FWIW…this whole bottling beer activity seems like a LOT of work so I’m gonna bypass that completely. I’ve decided to go straight to kegging my beer. I already have the kegerator at home so that’s a sunk-cost. I’m planning on getting a 4-pack of reconditioned/used corny’s just in time to keg this first batch.
It’s not really necessary unless you are planning on aging or racking onto fruit or something. I use the 5 gallon carboy that came with the kit to make cider and mead so it doesnt go to waste. It use to be believed that off flavors were produced by letting the beer sit on yeast for any more than a few weeks but it was a thing of the past on the homebrew level. Someone else will chime in on this I’m sure. Smart move on the kegging right off the bat!
First off, welcome to the forum @Tripod! There are lots of very knowledgeable folks on here very willing to share and the the search feature is a goldmine with the extensive bunch of threads.
In addition to what @Grantmesteven said, anytime you move beer from one container to the next, even kegging, you have risk of infection, oxidation, or other catastrophe. I’m pretty lazy with my brewing so personally, I need a really compelling reason to move beer to a secondary. Secondary fermentation is a bit of a misnomer because it’s not really a second fermentation anyway unless you add something. It’s the same fermentation in a different container leaving the trub/yeast cake behind.
