Sludge in all grain

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SnailAle

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Gday guys,

Apologies if this is the wrong place but I my first AG on the weekend through my guten and noticed one thing that I wasn't sure about.

By the end of the run the bottom of the mash tun had a layer of sludge in it. Some of this also made it's way into the fermenter. Not sure what it is or if it's normal?

All I can think of is that the hop pellets made their way through the hop spider as they disintegrated?

Is this normal? Have I done something wrong? And If so what do I need to do in future?

Had a ball running it though, thinking about trying a porter or maybe that better red than dead Irish red ale recipe next (love them since my trip to the UK recently).

Cheers gents,
 
General term used in brewing is TRUB / sludge. Usually after fermenting, but also a term used as the left overs in the boil kettle.
 
Hot and cold break material http://www.love2brew.com/Articles.asp?ID=526

Just part of the brewing process. There are various schools of thought about what effect break has on your finished beer if transferred to the fermenter. Some peopleeven claiming that it improves the finished beer. Definitely something to think about in the never ending quest for better beer but don't be too worried about it when you're just starting out.
 
There will be sludge after mashing - grey and fine. This is predominantly protein.

At the end of a boil, the sludge will be a mix of protein from hot break and hop material. While I wouldn't freak out if a bit makes its way into the fermenter, you are best working on separating from the main wort and leaving behind.

After chilling, there will be sludge that relates to cold break protein. If this is separate from hot (easily done with no chill, less so with methods like plate chilling), it is likely to cause no issue.

At the end of a ferment, you will get yeast, protein and hop sludge. Keep most of this out of bottles/kegs if possible.
 
General term used in brewing is TRUB / sludge. Usually after fermenting, but also a term used as the left overs in the boil kettle.

I've never heard a professional brewer refer to ferment residue as trub; lees or tank bottoms or even beer ferment residue (BFR) but not trub.
 
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On the contrary I've heard pretty much every homebrewer I know refer to it as trub so I don't really see your point.
It is a general term used in brewing as stated.
 
Well I am not a professional brewer, I am a home craft beer brewer. I have noticed that 8 out of 10 references refer to trub as residue left after fermentation has completed.
 
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I had glance at a dictionary of brewing, "any rubbish in the bottom of a tank a brewer wants to leave behind when transferring..." (loosely and paraphrased). I suspect technically Trub would be a catch all for tank bottom rubbish, but as LC said it isn't commonly used for fermenter residue, almost always for Kettle debris and (IME) sometimes for Mash Tun detritus.
(you have to love English - so many ways to say shit)
Probably not really all that important, provided you are getting the message across and people understand what you are talking about.

Which brings us to the question
SnailAle - do you mean "sludge" at the end of Mashing, or Wort Boiling?
If there is lots of sludge at the end of mashing, it's probably a sign your grist is too fine (a lot of malt flour), be some protein and other stuff in there to.
At the end of boiling, there will be "Condensed Protein" what we call Hot Break, Hop Debris, pellets are meant to break up into powder - so we can get at the Lupin Granules (why they give a better yield than flowers)
Of the main reasons we boil a wort, extracting hop fractions and isomerising them and reducing Coagulable Protein are among the most important, you really do want to leave the kettle bottom Trub in the kettle and not transfer it to the fermenter.
If you are chilling in the kettle, there will also be a bunch of "Cold Break" more condensed protein, but not harmful to the ferment, except in very large amounts, ignore it.
Mark
 
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Gday guys,

Apologies if this is the wrong place but I my first AG on the weekend through my guten and noticed one thing that I wasn't sure about.

By the end of the run the bottom of the mash tun had a layer of sludge in it. Some of this also made it's way into the fermenter. Not sure what it is or if it's normal?

All I can think of is that the hop pellets made their way through the hop spider as they disintegrated?

Is this normal? Have I done something wrong? And If so what do I need to do in future?

Had a ball running it though, thinking about trying a porter or maybe that better red than dead Irish red ale recipe next (love them since my trip to the UK recently).

Cheers gents,
Did you use a whirfloc tablet or some other fining/clearing agent? Helps drop it out better.
I use a keggle (55lt keg as a boiler) the height of the tap leaves 4lt trub behind. Factor that in to the batch size. When chilled all the trub is in that bottom 4lt so all the drained wort is clear, often as clear as finished beer.
 
Thanks guys,

Yeah it was after the boil and no i didn't use any clearing agents this go round. Just wanted to keep things simple for my first crack.

I have a wort chiller coil that I just dropped into the wort in the kettle.

I'm interested in the technical side of things, very interesting. I'm trying not to overwhelm myself too much at the start and just pick up bits and pieces as I go. Appreciating all the help.

Thanks fellas,
 
Well done for having a go, stay on track. I suggest having a look at some brewing Vloggings from youtube. Have a look at Gashslug, Tony Yates, newtohomebrewTom, BobyyfromNJ, even fasthomebrew who no-chill packs his wort.
 
Well done for having a go, stay on track. I suggest having a look at some brewing Vloggings from youtube. Have a look at Gashslug, Tony Yates, newtohomebrewTom, BobyyfromNJ, even fasthomebrew who no-chill packs his wort.

What's the benefit of no chill packing? Any negatives?
 
Benefit for no-chill is that it's easy, a bit less equipment and you don't have to ferment same day as brewing. This is great to stockpile brews so that when you're ready/have an empty fermenter, you are good to go.

Negative is that you can't ferment the same day and, as I've just learned, you don't have as much control over the hops.
Eg. you can do 20,15,10 min hop additions if you chill, but if you use a cube & no-chill, they all sort of blend together and give more bitterness - so you might only add them at the end of the boil or in the cube itself. That's not to say you can't make great beers doing it though... Just less variation possible.

If you already have the equipment to chill, I'd buy a cube and have both methods available, depending on how much time you have on brew day and when you want to ferment.

(the internet is awesome, I can learn this about the hops a couple of days ago and then just regurgitate it as if I had a clue...)
 
Well done you got your first under your belt . Next time use a clearing agent like a whirfloc chuck it in with 10 min to go and this will help settle the protein out of your wort .
 
No chill is also good for brewing ahead of time (properly nc'ed wort lasts a long time - brew more often, ferment later). This also helps if for some reason yeast isn't ready (starter doesn't get going, bird shits in it, whatever)
 
To paraphrase comments up until now:

Hot break: Gunge from coagulated protein in the boil. Including hop debris - separate if possible. Ideal.

Cold break: Gunge from coagulated protein during wort cooling (including hop debris). Ideally separate, but not essential.

Don't sweat the small stuff.
 
Well done you got your first under your belt . Next time use a clearing agent like a whirfloc chuck it in with 10 min to go and this will help settle the protein out of your wort .

As in ten minutes left of boil time?
 
Yes. Some brands differ (some 5, some 10, some even 15, some full tab per 20ish L, some half) so follow brand instructions
 

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