I usually try to transfer every last drop out of the brew kettle into the fermenter. I figure, it is all going to settle out. maybe even add a little more hop aroma? Might even be some coagulated sugars in that gunk.
So do you leave a thick layer behind in the brew kettle? Or do you tip it to get as much as possible?
Currently I just have a bulkhead in my kettle, without any pick up tube or mesh or anything.
I only use a hop bag if I am using leaf hops.
It ALL goes in the fermenter here. That said, I rack off the trub after an overnight rest at low temps before I pitch yeast for my lagers. Probably not necessary though.
Dumping the whole kettle into the fermenter is just fine. There’s no ill effects from doing so.
I normally try to leave the majority of hop particles and break material in the kettle, mainly because I reuse/save the yeast most of the time.
I agree with the opinions above, it likely doesn’t matter if trub goes into the fermentor, it will settle out and won’t be in the finished beer.
That said, there can still be good reasons to try and keep all the trub in the kettle. I reuse yeast like Legman, so I want to keep as much trub out of that as possible, plus I use a plate chiller. If I let hop and break material get into that, I’m not sure how I would ever get it out again. So I have a screen on the end of my pick up tube, and try to use whole hops when I can. They act like an additional filter in front of the screen.
RC mentioned something that I was going to say… reusing the yeast. I’ve never heard that having a lot of hop and break material in the yeast would cause a problem with reusing it but it would certainly make it harder to know how much of that schputz was yeast and how much was break material. After my boil and a Whirfloc tab in the last 5 minutes, I try to get a good, quick chill (easy this time of year) and then I rest my BK in an ice bath to allow everything to settle. After 20 minutes or so of that, I can rack crystal clear wort from the brewpot for about 4 gallons worth of wort until I start picking up some break material. Once I get my 5+ gallons of volume, I probably have between a half-gallon and a gallon of pea soup left that gets tossed.
Ps. I only use pellets in the boil and just throw them in loose. I have tried hop bags, etc. but they’re a PITA.
[quote=“Legman”]Dumping the whole kettle into the fermenter is just fine. There’s no ill effects from doing so.
I normally try to leave the majority of hop particles and break material in the kettle, mainly because I reuse/save the yeast most of the time.[/quote]
Same here, never had any I’ll effects from doing so…people can be a little too paranoid sometimes.
+1
Also don’t want that stuff going through my CFC.
it’s 50/50 for me. Sometimes I pour it all in, sometimes I strain out the hops and whatever else gets left behind with it.
I have a ball valve/tube filter in mine - I tilt it up drain everything but what stays in the hops.
I have a side dip tube. I stir up wort and let stand for 20 minute. Than I transfer clear wort into the fermentor for most of the transfer. And then, every time, I don’t have enough into the fermentor and have to let a lot of trub in. Oh well. My cold break is always insane amounts. I think you can only get that mythical “trub cone” with an actual whirlpool; not stirring really fast and letting it sit.
When I was using an immersion chiller I would give a good whirlpool and let it sit for about 20 minutes and leave close to a half gallon behind that was all “junk” and i mean that in the best possible way. Although there were frequently times when I would use a funnel and everything went into the fermenter. I never noticed any difference tastewise and never had any issue whether I left stuff behind or just siphoned straight out and transfered everything.
Now that I have gone to a Counterflow its everybody into the pool!
I drain down to the level of the hops and trub in the bottom. The remaining little bit goes on top of the spent grains in the compost bin. I usually try to reuse my yeast as well, and it makes it easier to harvest more yeast and less trub. I make 10 gallon batches usually, in a converted keg with a ball valve conveniently placed.
When I was brewing extract kits it all went into the fermenter, I couldn’t stand to waste a drop, I wanted all 5 gallons! I was new to brewing then and harvesting yeast was a little more advanced I thought so I gave no thought to dumping all the trub in the fermenter. The CW was the same back then too, it will settle out and doesn’t affect the finished beer. I quit doing kits when I went AG and started looking into reusing yeast around the same time so I scaled my recipes up by a half gallon and leave most of that in the boiler.
I use paint strainer bags inside my Ale Pail fermenters.
After chilling, i dump the entire contents of the boil kettle into the fermenter, and lift the entire strainer bag out, so all of the wort can drain out. If need be, i use some sanitized tongs to gently squeeze the strainer bag to get as much wort out as i can.
I’ve not noticed any off-flavors or issues with this method (been using this for the last 3+ years, roughly 75-80 batches or so). Also makes harvesting yeast from the primary easier, as I find the strainer bags do a great job of separating the wort from the trub/spent hops, etc.
I find this works well whether pellet or whole hops are used.
Bklmt2000
