Beer Forum

WWTD?

TastyMcD wrote: Of course, I play close attention to water chemistry, have an excellent whirlpool result, external chill, drop the cold break before pitching, and use finings.
Tasty

Without the option to drop the cold break before pitching in a carboy, would Whirlpool-Rest-Therminator-Carboy still be the suggested option?
Would racking off the cold break to another carboy then be necessary?

Depends on your system. If you already have the goods, try it out. If you're thinking about buying a Therminator (that's what I'm assuming from the question) & worried that you don't have a conical to use it with, it's still a good investment. If it doesn't work you haven't lost anything, you just have to rack it over. On the other hand I have 2 conicals & still use a hand spun immersion chiller. But the HopRocket & Therminator are on the buy list, hopefully by the end of the year.

Ok that's a good point. And I like the idea of less process changes down the road. If I go for a Therminator now and dial that in then it will just be a matter of adding a conical at some point in the future.
Plus I've read that cold break isn't the biggest concern.
Thanks for the help.

Tasty would have a cookie and not worry about it.

I have done it both ways with therminator transfer off the cold break and not. I now rack off the cold break every time and the main reason is it reduces the amount of blowoff I get during fermentation. If I don't rack it off I have to empty my blow off container a few times if I do rack it off then I don't have to at all. Haven't notice any other differences...but there could be some subtle differences

Stinkfist wrote: If I don't rack it off I have to empty my blow off container a few times if I do rack it off then I don't have to at all.

Interesting. Hadn't heard that.

Ozwald wrote:Depends on your system. If you already have the goods, try it out. If you're thinking about buying a Therminator (that's what I'm assuming from the question) & worried that you don't have a conical to use it with, it's still a good investment. If it doesn't work you haven't lost anything, you just have to rack it over. On the other hand I have 2 conicals & still use a hand spun immersion chiller. But the HopRocket & Therminator are on the buy list, hopefully by the end of the year.

I use a therminator and don't have a conical. I'll post a pic of the latest beer on draft, a barrel aged IPA that was double dry hopped and you'll see why I don't worry about it. All I fine with is gelatin, and for a dry hopped IPA, it's as clear as most non filtered commercial beers.

Like I said, it really just depends on your system. I've wanted a Therminator for a long time but 2 things happened. My system really sucks when it comes to not transfering break & I got a really good deal on both of my conicals. Now it's just so easy to transfer everything, wait 5-10 min, dump the break & pitch. If there's a lot of break, I'll wait a little longer and/or dump twice. My kettle's a converted keg that was free, unfortunately the welds weren't done very well or in good spots & the keg is pretty beat up. Free was a pretty damn good selling point.

I recently upgraded my 10g CoolerTun to a 30g Blichmann, so the new kettle's not too far down the road & the Therminator will be close behind.