Trub above tap line - suggestions?

[zarniwoop]

Hi All,

Whilst gazing in awe at my new cooling system today when transferring the hot wort to the fermenter I didn't notice that I was sucking the 'orrible bits out of the bottom of the kettle into the fermenter. I now have trub above my tap line. Other than syphoning from the top does anyone have any suggestions how to deal with this? (I normally rack to another fermenter for bulk priming and bottle from there)


Cheers

Zarniwoop

 

[manticle]

Rack gently to another fermenter or vessel. Cover and refrigerate for 24-48 hours. Then rack to bottling bucket.

 

[slcmorro]

Or, pull the first 500ml or so from the tap and tip it out.

 

[antiphile]

Another possibility (and a method I currently use) assumes the pipe inside the kettle is threaded. Add a 90 degree elbow and attach to that something to use that will emulate a pick-up arm. I use a brass barbed nipple (until I can find a stainless one), and I'm getting good experience at estimating how much whirlflocced crap there will be for a specific boil volume (and amount of whirlfloc etc). This let's me preset the maximum height for the pickup arm to be set at before the boil.

It's a bit annoying that I drilled the hole for the ball valve too low originally though. But now I can set it to pick up anywhere from 1 cm to about 10 cm from the base.

 

[zarniwoop]

Rack gently to another fermenter or vessel. Cover and refrigerate for 24-48 hours. Then rack to bottling bucket.

Presumably I'll pull the trub that's above the tap in and leave the rest behind, hopefully only ending up with only trub below the tap?

 

[boybrewer]

Put something under the front of the fermenter where the tap is to tilt it so that the trub moves away from the tap .

 

[bigmacthepunker]

[attachment=76868:ImageUploadedByAussie Home Brewer1417681608.108089.jpg

Did you whirlpool and rest for 10 mins, before drain off to FV.

 

[welly2]

I've got the same problem. I'm going to siphon from the top into a secondary fermenter and bottle from that. Nothing can possibly go wrong.

 

[zarniwoop]

I should highlight that this normally isn't an issue, this is just a one off stupid moment.

 

[dblunn]

Put something under the front of the fermenter where the tap is to tilt it so that the trub moves away from the tap .

Yep, easy solution. Just like pumping avgas out of a 44, trying to avoid the water at the bottom so as it doesn't spoil your day!

 

[zarniwoop]

Yep, easy solution. Just like pumping avgas out of a 44, trying to avoid the water at the bottom so as it doesn't spoil your day!

There's about 2 inches of trub above the tap and it's got 25L in a 30L fermenter, I don't know if I'll get the angle.

 

[dblunn]

There's about 2 inches of trub above the tap and it's got 25L in a 30L fermenter, I don't know if I'll get the angle.

Then bleed out the trub as slcmorro suggested then tip it back so you get clear beer and run the remainder off.
Cheers, Dave

 

[manticle]

Presumably I'll pull the trub that's above the tap in and leave the rest behind, hopefully only ending up with only trub below the tap?

Exactly.

 

[Jimrtl81]

It will compact down a fair bit by the end of fermentation.

 

[Judanero]

Is it still above tap after crash chilling? If not give that a go and see, it might drop below the tap.

 

[zarniwoop]

Thanks for all the ideas