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Removing Trub

Northern Brewer General
#1

I am fermenting my second batch now and starting to think about the next one.
I wanted to see how best to remove the trub from the wert before it goes into the carboy.
Looking through the forum I see there is several options all with pros and cons. Funnel with a filter, hop bags, hop spiders, whirlpools etc.
One option I was thinking about I have not heard anyone discuss so I wanted see if there is down side to it.

I was thinking about getting a BIAB bag that I would think would fit over a sanitized bucket and then poor the cooled wert though the bag. Then poor the filtered wert into the carboy.
First, would the bag fit a 5 gallon buck? I assume I would have to clip it on or have someone hold it.
Second, would the extra step add possible contamination risk even if I sanitize the bucket and the bag?

Would it just be easier to get a funnel and screen knowing the poor would have to stop several times to clean the filter?

Thanks, Ron

#2

You’re talking about eliminating the cold break & hop trub right after the boil? I think any filtering before the yeast has a chance to take hold is a recipe for contamination problems. If you don’t want cold break or hop mess in your fermenter, why not just whirlpool in the kettle at the end of the boil, let that sit for 20-30 minutes, then rack the clear wort off the cold break? That’s a pretty standard and easy method, and doesn’t introduce much contamination at all.

Personally, I just dump the whole crap into the fermenter and call it good. And scientifically, no one has been able to prove that the break and trub hurts the final flavor of the beer anyway. In fact, some science has shown benefits to keeping it in there. All the more reason to just relax, not worry, do what’s easy and enjoy. :slight_smile:

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#3

Your idea would work but you do have a lot of surface area with the bag and extra kettle to keep sanitary.

Using a funnel with a built in strainer requires a lot of stops to clean the strainer. A second person is very helpful with this method.

I pour through a small fine mesh grain bag that rests in a funnel with a strainer. A second person, my wife, is necessary for this method. We lift the bag as it fills to promote draining through the sides. Still takes a finger scraping of the funnel strainer for some beer styles.

I strain to have cleaner harvested yeast.

One of these days I’ll build a rack to hold the grain bag to make it a one person job.

#4

That is what I do. I take a clean 5 gallon paint strainer bag from home depot throw it in some sanitizer and line my bucket. Then I hold a sanitized kitchen strainer under the spigot and drain. Easy peasy. I only use hop sacks for cone hops.

#5

I bought a double mesh strainer that worked well but if you’re using lots of hops it clogs up fast and is a pain to get the rest of the wort through. However I recently started using carboys instead of buckets so I’m back to square one. I think I will be buying a side dip tube for my Spike kettle and start whirlpooling. Like @dmtaylo2 mentioned whirlpool as well as I’ve just let most of it into the fermentor too. No issues that I could tell. I did brew a Kolsch recently that I transferred most all of it into the fermentor. The only downside I could see if more loss of finished product unless you adjust for it.

#6

When I strain I have to dump the strained once or twice, no big diesel Denve I’m still chilling as I drain . The downside of dumping it all in the fermented other than the clarity issues is the extra volume in the fermenter. I boil down to 5 1/2 gallons and get 5 1/4 into fermenter and a tad under 5 in the keg, perfect

#7

Thanks for the information. I guess I need to read up what it takes to do the whirlpool method.
I am using a Big Mouth Bubbler, I wounder if the paint strainer would work with that vs. a separate 5 gallon bucket and an extra transfer?

#8

I wirlpool and have a trub ring in the bottom of me keggles. it helps to keep the trub contained. I still git some in the fermenter but I don’t worry at all. I consider it part of the process. Sneezles61

#9

I just brewed my third batch and second one with the Big Mouth Bubbler. I went with the suggestion and used a 5 gallon paint strainer and it worked very well. After sanitizing the strainer I put in into the BMB and the opening of the strainer over the mouth of the BMB. I had my wife hole it as I pored the wert into the BMB. At the end I had to pull up on one end of the strainer to get the wert to a clear part of the strainer. I was going to use an interim 5 gallon bucket but though I would try it this way first.

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#10

I am far from others on this site with experience however if you are looking for clear beer in the end I have always ended up with very clear. I just use a siphon and stop when I start to get the stuff on the bottom. After two weeks I rack it into a secondary and let it sit for a few more weeks and then cold crash it. I also keg and carb it before I put it into bottles. Never had a problem. Hope this helps

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#11

Hey I’m the new guy here👋🏻 Can you tell me what cold crash is?

#12

Cold crash means chilling your beer in the fermentor for a day to a week. Floaties drop out and settle to the bottom, usually. If you add gelatin, it clears things up even more.

#13

Like in a refrigerator or something? Or just somewhere cold. I actually think it’s pretty cold in the room I have it in currently.

#14

Refrigerator works best… a cold garage in winter works. I once rotated ice packs over a week to drop the temp of 5 gallons to probably low 50s… it was better than nothing, but didn’t drop things quickly.

That being said, just letting beer sit for a while clears things too. Time clears almost as well as cold.

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#15

Cool. Literally. Thanks for the help. :+1:t2:

#16

I have used a 10 inch tubular screen that screws into the backside of my ball valve inside of my boil pot. When I open the valve, the hops inside act as a filter and the wort runs clean… very clean…BUT… very slow… TOO SLOW. With the extended time your wort is exposed to the outside air, you run risks. I have given it a shot, but the clear wort into my carboy isn’t worth the extended time and risk of infection.

Personally, I whirlpool for 15 minutes… and use a pickup tube to pull wort from the outside edge of the kettle… avoiding the middle. Then when I open my ball valve I don’t crank it wide open, I go steady.

The filter idea you talked about MAY work for some beer styles (Non super hoppy) or your brewing methods (Using a hop spider or muslin bags etc) but mostly hop material is going to clog them and you will have your work cut out for you when it stops flowing through the bag.
You, like many others have searched for the single answer to this creature called Trub, but using screens, filters, bags, wirlpooling, better brewing practices, etc is all part of eliminating trub and hop matter. I just give it my best and accept what ends up in my carboy. COLD CRASHING is the best thing for me to help drop out anything I don’t catch and knock down any hop matter that’s still floating around.

Another good method that’s even practiced by commercial breweries is whirlpooling with a pump. The pimp is hooked up to the boil kettle in two places. Wort is pulled from one location and pushed back into the kettle (Either at an angle or a special fitting) and ran that way for an allotted amount of time.
As a home brewer, you can accomplish this with a pump or just use an attachment for your drill. Some use paint mixer attachements, I use a plastic paddle that fits into my 1/2 inch Dewalt drill. While whirlpooling, you will have your immersion chiller pumping water while your whirlpool is forcing matter to the center of the pot AND your moving a lot of surface area of wort around the coil (Assuming you don’t have a plate chiller).
ANYWAYS, as you can see, a lot of things go into fighting trub and hop matter. As a home brewer without commercial equipment, I believe that better practices from the beginning to end of your brewday will help produce a clear beer.

#17

You know what I just realized… I just wrote a novel for a post that was created back in July… damn! Anyways good luck

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#18

Check out post #3 and then go to post 16 in this topic.

#19

Oh yeah I saw that and I made a bucket for just that. The mesh bag/bucket was a good idea!!!

#20

I drain my kettle through a strainer into a bucket lined with a paint strainer bag then pull the bag. Easy peasy

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