Different Trub Properties....

[MVZOOM]

HI All,

Racked two beers off to secondry tonight - they both had completely different trub cakes.

The first was an ESB Lager, with added hops, fermented at 11deg using Saflager 34/70, for around 2.5 weeks. It's cake was very loose, light coloured and not pitted. Quite slushy and very easy to clean.

The second was the TCB Southern Lager w/steeped grains and hops (both bittering and flavouring), fermented for 3.5 weeks at 11deg (long, yes, I know - have been busy!!!) with a Liquid Pilsner yeast. It's cake was heavily compacted, very dark, with pits in it. Difficult to move and stubborn to clean.

The TCB seems to have flocced already - it's quite clear - is that the difference? What could I learn from the trub - or does none of this matter?

Cheers - Mike

 

[MVZOOM]

I take it that trub tells us nothing? So I shouldn't try and read peoples fortunes in it....!

 

[vlbaby]

Reading the trub on a fermenter is like reading skid marks on a toilet bowl.
You can't tell **** from it!

vl.

 

[razz]

:lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[Kai]

Heavier floccing yeasts leave a denser yeast cake on the bottom of the fermenter as they have more ability to pack down together.

 

[dicko]

A yeast cake will depend on many varying factors.
What I have noted is that late hops make a difference to the appearance (and qite often aroma) of the cake.
The strain of yeast has a big bearing on the appearance as well.
Some "pack down" and others are" loose".
The cake takes an entirely different visual characteristic from K & K and extract to All grain brewing at times, depending on methods, kettle additions etc.
What I have noticed over many brews is that the same yeast cakes (given that the same yeasts have been used with the same or similar suited beer styles) quite often appear the same, brew after brew.
This may be influenced by OG to FG at times as well.

This is only my observation, so please, no flame wars :beer:

Cheers,

 

[Trough Lolly]

As Dicko points out, yeast cakes vary from one strain to another. A good guide to this is how flocculant the strain is.

W34/70 is a medium level flocculator, whereas pils yeast can be medium to highly flocculant. Generally speaking, the more flocculant the strain, the harder the yeast cake and usually, the lower the attenuation levels.
Many brewers like Wyeast 1968 London ESB Ale yeast due to it's highly flocculant properties as well as it's flavouring profile - it sets like cement in the fermenter, resulting in nice bright beers. The drawback is that highly flocculant strains often settle out in the fermenter floor before the fermentation is complete and you can end up with sweet beer due to the relatively high unfermented sugar content remaining in solution. Rousing the beer is an often used solution to that particular issue...
Cheers,
TL

 

[MVZOOM]

OK, cheers guys - makes sense now that I have a rule of thumb to reference against.

Cheers - Mike