No-chill - ditch the trub?

[user 31093]

Hi all

I've got 2 cubes that are about a week old now and planning to pitch one soon.

There's quite a lot of trub in the bottom and I was wondering if it should be ditched or mixed back in and poured into the fermenter?

Understand that there may be some fermentable volume in it, hence my asking.

Thanks!

 

[Crusty]

I get some cold break & some spent hops in my no chill cubes.
Pitch the whole cube into the fermenter. Just open the lid & pour from a little height to aerate the wort.

 

[citizensnips]

There is a good podcast done by Basic Brewing where they do multiple experiments to see the results of putting in and not putting in trub. Results are pretty interesting

 

[citizensnips]

I should say from all the experiments done from multiple people, the general consensus was that no trub results in a more balanced smoother beer. However with that said some proffered it with the trub. With the trub surprisingly always produced a clearer end beer with sometimes a little more bitterness (often from hops just being in there the whole time). With the trub always produced a more vigorous fermentation with just about everyone reporting that the beer always finished a day earlier than the one without trub (trub is just a nice yeast additive). Basically what I gathered is that it depends on what style your brewing, for me I recon just add 1/3rd of the trub everytime just to aid fermentation.

 

[bum]

Worth pointing out that the thing citizensnips is talking about is a load of old toss made by some homebrewers on the internet. Words like "always" really shouldn't be used.

It was also primarily concerned with hotbreak, if I recall correctly, which you may have tried to omit from your cube in the first place.

 

[user 31093]

For the sake of less FAF, potential fermentables and never having ditched trub when not no-chilling... I'll keep the trub -_-

 

[citizensnips]

Good on ya Bum, discrediting the efforts of 10 to 20 odd people, home brewers just like ourselves who have gone to the effort to make a batch and collectively bring together their findings dedicated to finding out results so the rest of us can learn and benefit, not to mention conducted by one of the most rational and level headed brewers out there........let me know when Harvard release their next publication of home brewing science

 

[Coalminer]

Assuming (always a dangerous thing to do) that the wort is whirlpooled before transfer to the cube then would not the trub in the cooled cube be primarily cold break?
If so what is wrong with including this in the fermenter. Is this not what happens when using a plate chiller or counterflow chiller?
Or do users of these chillers also filter their wort before fermentation?

 

[QldKev]

my 2c,
Hot break is bad
Cold break is good, excellent yeast nutrients in it.

So whirlpool your kettle before adding the wort to the cube and leave most the **** behind.
Add entire contents of cube to fermenter.

 

[davo4772]

I used to obsess about having clear wort into the fermenter.

I don't bother now and have noticed no difference in my beers.

If I plan to reuse yeast then I will try to keep the trub out.

In terms of reward vs effort I can't see the point of obsessing about trub too much.

 

[manticle]

Two different types of trub (actually many types of particles in both types but generally speaking)

Are you already leaving behind stuff when you drain the kettle?

 

[Bribie G]

One way to avoid too much hot break in the cube is to adjust your recipe to give you an extra litre or two. When you have allowed the trub to settle after the boil (I give mine 20 mins) pour off the first of two litres into a sterilised bottle. I have a couple of Lab bottles that I treasure, but there are plenty of alternatives such as V8 glass juice jars...


To avoid getting trub at the last few minutes of the pour (edit: that is, trub into the cube) you can collect a litre of "heads" and a litre of "tails" and collect the middle run in the main cube. This should give you a full cube of bright wort, with the trub carryover trapped in the bottles.


The two bottles are effectively mini-cubes that you can chill there and then. When the trub has settled, the clear portion can either be used straight away to start a liquid yeast or just poured into the fermenter at the same time as the main cube.



Another way of reducing crap is to always use a hop bag, even with pellets. Paint strainer bags are good, I use these from Craftbrewer that I peg round the top of the boiler, the hops swim free but the material strains 90% of the solids.

 

[popmedium]

Good thread! As a BIABer I'm always trying to reduce trub. Purely so as not to loose so much beer. Found this helpful!

 

[bum]

Good on ya Bum, discrediting the efforts of 10 to 20 odd people

As opposed to discrediting centuries of brewing practice (yes, I know brewing has occurred for longer than that but let's accept that much of it may have been haphazard/ad hoc at best) purely out of greed, laziness or both?

let me know when Harvard release their next publication of home brewing science

Not sure why you think there aren't already numerous science-based publications on brewing science. I haven't read them all but I'd wager none of them say adding hot break improves a beer but I haven't read them all so could be wrong. I'm confident that the general gist would be to exclude it though.

Look at it this way - do the mega breweries spend a lot of time and money ensuring that they exclude as much of it as possible? Imagine how much more money they'd make if they stopped doing this (savings in time, cost and lost wort). But they don't - why is that? Just because they don't listen to a bunch of drunk podcasters? Doubt it.

[EDIT: punctuado]

 

[real_beer]

Hi all

I've got 2 cubes that are about a week old now and planning to pitch one soon.

There's quite a lot of trub in the bottom and I was wondering if it should be ditched or mixed back in and poured into the fermenter?

Understand that there may be some fermentable volume in it, hence my asking.

Thanks!

If these 2 cubes are from the same batch now's a perfect time to test fermenting with & without trub in your own brewhouse. You don't have to ferment them both now, just keep a few bottles around to compare for the next batch. If you do it at both extremes now, all trub, & no trub, you might get a quicker handle on how much if any you might allow in future brews.

 

[jacknohe]

For the sake of less FAF, potential fermentables and never having ditched trub when not no-chilling... I'll keep the trub -_-

A number of us ferment in the cube, or jerry can in my case. So almost all my trub from the boiler ends up in the Jerry can. Saves on cleaning/sterilising another vessel. I get clear beer every time. Mind you, I filter... :lol:

 

[user 31093]

A number of us ferment in the cube, or jerry can in my case. So almost all my trub from the boiler ends up in the Jerry can. Saves on cleaning/sterilising another vessel. I get clear beer every time. Mind you, I filter... :lol:

I've been dumping the trub in and using an inline irrigation filter... Mainly because I've been dry hopping, lots of trub and hops led to a fair amount of leaves in one of my brews so I got one.

Only costed me about $9 in parts.

 

[Black Devil Dog]

One way to avoid too much hot break in the cube is to adjust your recipe to give you an extra litre or two.

That's pretty much what I do, my mash volume is 35 litres, then allowing for loss to absorption, boil off and trub, I can fill a cube with minimal solids going in.

When I transfer from cube to fermenter, I leave the trub in the cube and usually have 22 - 23 litres in the fermenter.

I figure the trub has to be removed a some stage, so I might as well do it as I go.

 

[zeggie]

I haven't been successful in stopping chill haze, don't really care now so I just pitch the entire cube.

 

[Markbeer]

My experience has told me the hop variety greatly affects the off favours including the true can give and the amount of hops. Amarillo ok, galaxy no way. Noticeable when using over 100 grams of hops.

I believe the IPA whole trub in the basic brewing radio were not the best when all hop matter was carried over. For a mild maybe it matters less.