All Grain Fermenting

[HeavyNova]

Are you telling me that you have no crud in your fermentors?

Your not confusing sleepy yeast with crud from the kettle are you?

 

[TmC]

Your not confusing sleepy yeast with crud from the kettle are you?

Maybe, im not talking about the yeast cake, in my AG's i tend to get floaties all over the place in the first few days, my hydro readings get them too.

 

[Bribie G]

Hi felow brewers,
I have an all grain BIAB ale in my fermentor at the moment (Day 3 US 05) and am concerned about the amount of Trub/Crud sitting in the bottom. My outlet valve is totaly covered up by the excess Trub/Crud about 1/2 inch above the valve. I have not had this problem with kits/extracts before? I will be keging this once its done but valve is covered in crap so it may be difficult?
What can i do? :icon_cheers:

You will get more sediment in the bottom with AG brewing because most of it is probably cold break, not just yeast. Cold break is the proteins that come out of the wort as it cools, and doesn't do any harm. As you have found it mostly just sinks to the bottom and does nothing. Some commercial breweries filter the cold break out, but I think that's more to do with the fact that cold break takes up valuable fermenter real estate $$$$ in a commercial brewery and also interferes with their yeast collection from the bottom of their conical fermenters.

I did a cold break experiment with two batches - one with a heap of cold break and the other with little or no cold break. The beers turned out almost indistinguishable (I did a club tasting)

As you can see, more cold break = thicker cake.

Edit: if kegging, just run off the first 1.25L into a sanitised soft drink PET bottle and put that in your fridge. Then the rest should start running fairly clear into the keg. The 1.25L should settle out to give you some yeast to start off for your next brew, if that yeast suits.

 

[Mclovin]

Edit: if kegging, just run off the first 1.25L into a sanitised soft drink PET bottle and put that in your fridge. Then the rest should start running fairly clear into the keg. The 1.25L should settle out to give you some yeast to start off for your next brew, if that yeast suits.

[/quote]

Thats a good idea, I use US05 yeast for all my beers. :icon_cheers:

 

[stux]

I take a few gravity samples through out the brew process, this tends to keep the tap fairly clear.

On brew day, just take another gravity sample, and that will clear out whatever trub is left in the tap/sediment reducer

 

[bignath]

Thats a good idea, I use US05 yeast for all my beers. :icon_cheers:

Mclovin, just keep in mind though that re-using yeast cake material is much better suited if you are brewing a similar (ideally identical) beer to what the yeast cake has just fermented.

You wouldn't want to use the yeast cake from a massively hopped APA/IPA onto a delicate lager as the next batch.
Obviously, if the first batch was dry hopped, some of this will end up in the second batch. Not just the yeast (unless you go to great lengths to "wash" or filter out the yeast from the crap somehow).

 

[CosmicBertie]

I take a few gravity samples through out the brew process, this tends to keep the tap fairly clear.

On brew day, just take another gravity sample, and that will clear out whatever trub is left in the tap/sediment reducer

Is it only me that turns the tap an extra 180 degrees so that the outside spout points up and the hole on the inside of the FV points down, resulting in very little sediment in the tap?

 

[Malted]

Are you telling me that you have no crud in your fermentors?

Maybe it is an issue with the type of fermenter you use?

or do you sparge too much?

 

[np1962]

Is it only me that turns the tap an extra 180 degrees so that the outside spout points up and the hole on the inside of the FV points down, resulting in very little sediment in the tap?

My problem with this is if the tap spout is pointing up any dust, wild yeast or bacteria can land in it. The slightest leak in the tap and there is an easy path into your precious brew.
Just run a little out into a glass before running into the keg. Much easier and less risk.
Cheers
Nige

 

[bradsbrew]

Just run a little out into a glass before running into the keg. Much easier and less risk.
Cheers
Nige

I generally run a little into the hydro jar, then pour a pint because a man aint a camel and kegging a beer is thirsty work.

Cheers

 

[CosmicBertie]

My problem with this is if the tap spout is pointing up any dust, wild yeast or bacteria can land in it. The slightest leak in the tap and there is an easy path into your precious brew.
Just run a little out into a glass before running into the keg. Much easier and less risk.
Cheers
Nige

Ah, thats why I wrap Gladwrap around the tap spout Horses for courses!