Settling Break Material in Kettle

[Lichtersnatch]

Too much whirlfloc can be just as bad as not enough, you can play around with reducing the amount.

I didn't see you mention it specifically, but are you doing a whirlpool after chilling?

[dannypo]

I used to have to same issue. After whirlepooling and letting it settle for 30 minutes to an hour I would get 4 gallons of clear wort and then I would hit that huge layer of trub. Like was stated above my fix was to reduce my kettle finings to half a whirfloc tablet. Worked great.

[kivakid]

Very interesting, guys. Thanks again for the replies. I manually whirlpool at the end of cooling (stir fast), but it just seems to settle flat again. I guess I will try a half tablet of Whirlfloc next time and see what happens. Then I might see about increasing the recipe by a quart or half gallon...I never heard that about Whirlfloc, even JZ talks about throwing a whole tablet in.

Thanks!

Casey B.

[dannypo]

Yeah it's kind of strange. I sometimes brew side by side with by brother. Same recipe, same kettle and same whirlpool setup. I get excessive trub and he doesn't. Must be some other variable involved.

[Lichtersnatch]

Another thing you can try is slowing down the flow out of the kettle once you see the top of the trub cone, that should help stop the fast moving current tearing it apart so fast.

[kivakid]

I toyed with the idea of adding a valve to my aluminum 10 gallon pot, but I dunno exactly where I'd mount it due to all this break material!

Casey B.

[thatguy314]

+1 on whirlfloc. really helps.

Also, do you whirlpool? Stirl the kettle vigorously when you first start the chill so that it forms a nice whirlpool. then let it settle out. that really helps all the trub collect in a nice compact pile.d

[siwelwerd]

I am hitting my pre-boil and post-boil volumes that are described in the recipes.

Your pre and post-boil volumes are determined by your equipment, not somebody's recipe. The recipe should be scaled to match your equipment (volumes, efficiency, etc.). For instance, I have measured 1.3 gallons of dead space in my kettle, so I aim for 6.8 gallons post-boil to give me 5.5 gallons in the fermenter. This tends to leave most of the break (and a bit of beer) behind.

I brewed the BCS O'fest, and JZ says he likes to leave as much of the break material behind for lagers. I'm just confused why it's an issue for me, and why I don't get what I should out of the normal recipe/procedure.

When I do a lager, I stick it in the fridge to get from room temp to pitching temp overnight. The next morning, any break material that made it in the fermenter has settled out, so I rack off to a new carboy and then pitch my yeast.