What's a Reasoanble Amount of Trub?

[Sherlock]

Couldn't tell ya, I just did my 1st AG batch last weekend and yea, I had a similar experience. 1-1.5 gallons of trub floating in the bottom... seems like a LOT more than I got doing extract batches.

I recirculated ~3 quarts and it 'appeared' clear... but at the end I did tilt my cooler to get the last bit out and maybee that disturbed the grain bed enough... just thinking out loud. I'm just gonna have to brew again, hopefully next weekend. Just so I know ya know, strictly for analytical purposes

But it is nice to know that I'm not the only one.

Did think about trying a hopbag, but I've heard rumors of decreased hop utilization using them.?. Never tried it.

[Speyedr]

I usually plan on leaving a gallon behind. If you whirlpool, either using Jamil's method or just a large, sanitized spoon, and let the wort settle for 1/2hr you'll reduce the amount of wort you leave behind.

Also, unless you plan on leaving your beer in the primary for a LOOONG time, a little trub ain't gonna kill 'ya, and it's actually good for the yeast. Once the yeast drops out the trub and yeast compact on the bottom of the fermenter and you can rack off your clear beer.

As for the pellets, I use muslin bags and while I can't say if my hop utilization has suffered, if you use a big enough bag for each ounce of hops it shouldn't be a problem. If you stuff 5 ounces into one muslin bag you may have an issue.

Rob

[Bugeater]

The is a little loss in utilization when using a hop bag. I don't remember exactly what it was other that it was about the same as the difference between using leaf and pellet hops. Since pellet hops have a higher extraction rate, just refigure the bittering as if you were using leaf hops and you should come out right on. In any case, it is not much of a difference.

Wayne
Bugeater Brewing Company

[Fishemulsion]

Thanks all for the responses, I think I have learned that the amount of trub that is gerneated during my brew is somewhere in the middle of the bell curve; I can live with being in the middle, I just don't want to be special.

[Bugeater]

I can live with being in the middle, I just don't want to be special.

Don't worry about being special. We'll send the short bus around for you.

Wayne
Bugeater Brewing Company

[consumes]

what are negative affects of transfering everything from boiling kettle ???.... i typically siphon it all ....

[Speyedr]

As long as you transfer the beer out of the primary after about 1 or 2 weeks tops you'll be OK. If you leave it in there for a while you can get off flavors from the breakdown of the different compounds in there.