bound sediment throughout wort?

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LOst

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Hello,

I am reasonably new to grain brewing and have done about 8 brews so far with some mixed results. This is my second batch using a clear fermenter and I have noticed something which I haven't seen before. You can see in the attached pictures, but there seems to be sediment or something all through the wort? I would expect a bit in the bottom, but it is attached to the float and line, and floating all throughout.

I brewed this yesterday using BIAB method, 60 minute mash of 4kg of gladfield pale malt, 60 min, 2 min and 1 min PoR additions, and 1.5 tablets of deltafloc 15 mins prior to finishing the boil. I cooled it to 95 celsius by whirlpooling for a couple of minutes, then down to ~30 celsius by putting the brew pot into a tub of water, and then transferred to the fermenter last night and left overnight to cool down to ~20 celsius now. No yeast has been pitched yet.

Has anybody seen anything like this before? Is it related to the floc addition? Is it trub or is it the sugars somehow bound together?

Any thoughts would be much appreciated.
Thanks
 

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Probably a combination of both the Deltafloc and Cold Break material.
Irish Moss type kettle flocculants need both the right dose (you are about 3X over) and the right pH to work really well. Carragenan (the acitive ingredient in Irish Moss/Deltafloc/Whirlfloc/Copperfloc...) bonds to protein. Proteins (there are literally millions of different ones) can have either a positive or negative charge, depending on pH. The larger the protein the higher the pH at which it will be attracted to the Floc, which is handy as we want to remove as much of the large (high Molecular Weight (MW)) protein as we can and leave the smaller ones that are important for body/mouth feel/nutrient for yeast and head building in the beer.
In the boil the pH should fall to around 5-5.2pH, the Floc binds it and drops it to the bottom of the kettle (Hot Break). If you have excess Carrageenan (which you do) as the wort cools, as ferment kicks off, over time, the pH will fall and smaller (lower MW) proteins will start being attracted to the Carrageenan and it will clump, that’s what you are seeing.

Get the dose right, try about half a tablet in a 23-25L boil, try to keep as much of the hot break in the kettle as you can. Whirlpool and drain to the fermenter, you really can’t filter/strain out hot break and you beer will be better for leaving it in the kettle. Judging by the amount of crap in the bottom of the fermenter I would guess you dumped most of the hot break into the fermenter with the wort.
This illustrates the effect of slight overdosing on fining, not the massive overdose you have used.
Mark
Fining.jpg

Bit of a read with pictures ClearBeerTechnology.pdf (bsgcraftbrewing.com)
m
 
Thanks for the reply. I will reduce the dose next time.
The deltafloc packet states 1 tablet per 19L mash. I usually have about 25L mash, hence the extra half.

I haven't added any yeast yet, if I add some dry enzyme will the yeast break this stuff up or should I throw this away?
 
No and No
Dry enzyme acts on large sugars (dextrins), finings mostly act on Proteins.
Get the yeast in (I wouldn’t have waited this long) and see what happens.
I would only trust the instructions from whoever packed the Deltafloc if they have a link to the manufacturer’s data telling you how to use it.
Have a good read of the link I posted, should let you work out the right answer for yourself.
Mark
 

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