Hello I know jamil chilled his wort down to 44F an tranfer it to other carboy to get it off the trub… All I have is one 6 gal better bottle can I just chilled it down to 44F an just pitch the yeast an not worry about transferring it to another carboy . I don’t try to reused the yeast at all because I don’t brew back to back batch…Or would the trub cause some fermentation problems
Trub really isn’t a big deal, just helps with clarification on down the line to remove it eàrly.
What I do is to chill my wort down as far as possible in my brew kettle, then place the whole kettle in my keezer to chill. Then rack over to a carboy.
Not sure WTF you’re talking about, I’ve never heard him say to do this. Best thing is to keep the trub in the boil kettle. Siphon off, drain from a couple inches off the bottem, whatever. Just keep it in the kettle.
You should work out a way to keep the trub in the kettle with all batches, not just lagers. It makes transferring to keg/bottle much easier, and reusing yeast much easier.
I just chill below 60, then drain the kettle and put the sealed carboy into the fermenter chest to get it colder, then pitch. I ferment about 52F for 30 days or so and then rack to cornie to lager further and carbonate to serve from the keg (if transporting the beer to an event, I will pull off a pint or so til it runs clear, then transfer to a clean keg to avoid stirring up the sediment in transport.)
Don’t worry about trub in the fermenter. I know a couple of guys who make world-class beers and they don’t mess around with eliminating trub. (And neither do I, for that matter.) Also I know they ran an experiment on Basic Brewing of with trub vs. no trub, and the results were inconclusive. Actually it appeared to me that if either one “won” the experiment, it was with trub. There was a difference between the two, but no one could pinpoint what it was. Claims about clarity and crispness without trub were confirmed bogus.
No worries. Leave the trub in there. The less dicking around with your beer, the better, IMHO.
:cheers:
There is also that school of thought. I don’t like having the trub for physical reasons, it makes transferring to keg easier and it makes reusing yeast easier. Does it make the beer taste better? Maybe, but probably not.
OP. pitching at 44 and letting rise to target is good. If you like brewing lagers, then reusing yeast sure makes hitting your pitching rates easier in the next round.
In one Jamil Show episode (either Helles or Schwarzbier probably) JZ mentions that he leaves the trub behind in the kettle. I think most pro German lager brewers do the same. Are they wasting their time?
I completely agree about leaving as much physical mess behind as possible - not much annoys me more in brewing than racking problems after fermentation is finished.
As for taste quality, it’s worth trying it yourself. I think it depends a lot on the beer, yeast, and your processes. Several times a year I split a batch with clear wort to one fermenter and almost everything else to another. It seems that I can always tell a difference, and generally (but not always!) prefer the clean batch to the trub batch; maybe around a 2:1 preference. It seems that subtle flavors in general come through better in the cleaner version; things like subtle malt and hop aromas. There’s usually a mouth feel diff too. Keep in mind though, that my trub version has all but the thickest kettle dregs in it. Letting a little trub through is not likely to make a big impact.
There is also that school of thought. I don’t like having the trub for physical reasons, it makes transferring to keg easier and it makes reusing yeast easier. Does it make the beer taste better? Maybe, but probably not.[/quote]
Cold crash, dawg! I don’t worry much about trub either. I try to keep some of the hop matter out when I’m pouring into my fermentor, but if a little gets in, I don’t stress aboot it.
There is also that school of thought. I don’t like having the trub for physical reasons, it makes transferring to keg easier and it makes reusing yeast easier. Does it make the beer taste better? Maybe, but probably not.[/quote]
Cold crash, dawg! I don’t worry much about trub either. I try to keep some of the hop matter out when I’m pouring into my fermentor, but if a little gets in, I don’t stress aboot it.[/quote]
Yeah, no reason to get too bent out of shape. Hops can cause an issue, so be careful about that like you say. For me, it’s more because I’ve worked out an easy way to leave it all behind in my kettle. So may as well as it allows me to reuse yeast very easily. There’s basically no trub in my yeast cakes, it’s all yeast.
How is that, alanzo? are you doing a whirlpool?
I use Whirfloc in the kettle, try to get a good, quick chill (immersion chiller) and then allow the brewpot to sit in the sink with ice and 20-30 minutes while things settle and then I rack from brewpot to primary. I do this for ales and lagers but lager might get more ice in the sink so I can lower the temp and get it closer to 50°. I realize that not all brewers can put their kettle in the sink or that some brew 10-gallon batches, etc. but this method works for me. I’m in the “less trub” camp because I like to reuse yeast and try to keep the sediment as clean as possible otherwise you don’t know what percentage of trub is in that slurry. I also like for my homebrew to look like “beer”, not “homebrew” so clarity is something I look for. Good luck. YMMV.
I very often do a ‘partial chill’, where I chill down to around 100 (apparently once you get below 140*, SMM, the DMS precursor stops forming), then stick it in the fermentation fridge, sometimes overnight, and, like Jamil, transfer to another fermenter, leaving the trub behind before pitching.
Largely, I do this so I can just have a clean yeast cake, as I will often brew batches on my system to grow up a cake for a batch on my buddy’s 1/2 bbl.
Generally though, I’m not overly worried about trub in the fermenter. It is interesting though that people who have run side-by-side batches perceive a ‘cleaner’ flavor without the trub. For most of my styles that are supposed to be particularly clean, I do remove the trub with my slow chill/decant as Jamil does.
When I was using a hop sack in the boil, the yeast cake was very clean, but I didn’t like the results I got on hoppy beers. I may go back to using a hop sack for lagers and non-hoppy ales…
I have used the Jamil method (as covered in “Brewing Classic Styles” on page 43) with great results after of couple of not so good results by other methods. I do give my Pilseners and Helles a diacetyl rest as there is a tendency to get a slight buttery test in these beers. All others have not required it. I lager for at least 9 weeks. The extra transfer is a little inconvenient but up to now, due to the really good beer I have not had an incentive to change. Your discussions give me a reason to give it a try.
Last lager I did (maibock) I racked to a fermenter and chilled down to a little under 50 in my keggorator. Pulled it out and set it on the basement floor where it is an ambient 65 at all times. Pitched my yeast and just let it rise. Tastes nice and clean like a lager should.
Whenever I go from the kettle to the fermenter I strain my wort through a paint strainer bag to catch all but the smallest particles of trub. Works like a charm.
[quote=“Lytnin”]
Whenever I go from the kettle to the fermenter I strain my wort through a paint strainer bag to catch all but the smallest particles of trub. Works like a charm.[/quote]
Paint strainer bag eh? I like that, and may get involved!
Only really works for a bucket though…
