you know how theres always a bunch of trub or whatever they call it on the bottom of your fermenter. today i had the idea to rinse my grains before the mash and there might not be as much. has anyone ever tried this or is it even a good idea?
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rinse grains?
- Thread starter lordrahl
- Start date
Mofo
Grandmaster Brewer
I think the answer falls into the "it ain't broke, don't fix it" category.
Very little of what ends up on the bottom of your fermentor is the stuff you're hoping to rinse from your grains. Rather, it's yeast that ate too much of the sugar in your wort and is now crashed out on the floor like halftime on Thanksgiving Day. If you're hoping to get rid of that, you won't be making beer.
You can reduce the amount of trub first by vorlaufing before draining your mash tun. Catch your first runnings in a pitcher and slowly pour it back into your wort. As you do this your grain bed settles and your wort starts running clear. Once the wort is in the kettle there are a variety of techniques for managing hops (hop spiders, filters, etc). I personally don't do much. I pour my chilled wort into my fermentor through two sanitized sieves stacked on top of each other, first a colander to catch the big stuff, then a fine steel mesh to catch the smaller stuff. (One time I used clamps to attach a piece of cheesecloth to the top of my bucket fermentor and poured through that. The cloth was quickly covered in gank and nothing would pass through it. Don't do this!)
But the main thing is that unless your beer is sitting on it for weeks longer than it likely will be, the trub isn't going to impart any off flavors to your beer. The problem isn't keeping the trub out of your beer but, more easily, getting your beer off the trub come bottling time. I suggest cold crashing to settle small stuff, then siphon into your bottling bucket.
Best of luck. And brew on!
Very little of what ends up on the bottom of your fermentor is the stuff you're hoping to rinse from your grains. Rather, it's yeast that ate too much of the sugar in your wort and is now crashed out on the floor like halftime on Thanksgiving Day. If you're hoping to get rid of that, you won't be making beer.
You can reduce the amount of trub first by vorlaufing before draining your mash tun. Catch your first runnings in a pitcher and slowly pour it back into your wort. As you do this your grain bed settles and your wort starts running clear. Once the wort is in the kettle there are a variety of techniques for managing hops (hop spiders, filters, etc). I personally don't do much. I pour my chilled wort into my fermentor through two sanitized sieves stacked on top of each other, first a colander to catch the big stuff, then a fine steel mesh to catch the smaller stuff. (One time I used clamps to attach a piece of cheesecloth to the top of my bucket fermentor and poured through that. The cloth was quickly covered in gank and nothing would pass through it. Don't do this!)
But the main thing is that unless your beer is sitting on it for weeks longer than it likely will be, the trub isn't going to impart any off flavors to your beer. The problem isn't keeping the trub out of your beer but, more easily, getting your beer off the trub come bottling time. I suggest cold crashing to settle small stuff, then siphon into your bottling bucket.
Best of luck. And brew on!
twhitaker
Grandmaster Brewer
Trub- coagulated proteins and other undesired byproducts of mashing/boiling wort.
Yeast sediment- left behind in the fermentor. The goal is to have trub free wort in your fermentor so you have pure yeast sediment in there afterwards.
Nothing on the outside of raw grain is going to get past the mash tun and into the fermentor. It is proteins and other compounds that are a result of mashing that are dissolved in the runnings and the best place to remove them is in the boil after cooling.
Then all you will have in the fementor is pure yeast sediment, which can be saved and re-used.
As you become more experienced you can get better at putting clear wort into your fermentor and reduce the liquid loss down to a few ounces.
I brew 12 gallon batches and my boil kettle loss for trub is about 1/4 gallon, and liquid left in the 60 liter fermentor is about one cup; with about a pint of yeast sludge left under that which I save for the next batch in a sterile mason jar in the fridge.If you want trub free beer,Firstly you should recirculate hot runnings from the mash tun until it is crystal clear- called Vorlauf. Once clear, direct it into the boil kettle.Then using whirfloc in the boil, whirpooling, using a bazooka screen or other straining method and careful syphon/ transfer methods to remove cold break- the gelled proteins that form when cooled.
During the boil, a foamy sludge appears on top of the wort; I scoop that out carefully- hot break
Yeast sediment- left behind in the fermentor. The goal is to have trub free wort in your fermentor so you have pure yeast sediment in there afterwards.
Nothing on the outside of raw grain is going to get past the mash tun and into the fermentor. It is proteins and other compounds that are a result of mashing that are dissolved in the runnings and the best place to remove them is in the boil after cooling.
Then all you will have in the fementor is pure yeast sediment, which can be saved and re-used.
As you become more experienced you can get better at putting clear wort into your fermentor and reduce the liquid loss down to a few ounces.
I brew 12 gallon batches and my boil kettle loss for trub is about 1/4 gallon, and liquid left in the 60 liter fermentor is about one cup; with about a pint of yeast sludge left under that which I save for the next batch in a sterile mason jar in the fridge.If you want trub free beer,Firstly you should recirculate hot runnings from the mash tun until it is crystal clear- called Vorlauf. Once clear, direct it into the boil kettle.Then using whirfloc in the boil, whirpooling, using a bazooka screen or other straining method and careful syphon/ transfer methods to remove cold break- the gelled proteins that form when cooled.
During the boil, a foamy sludge appears on top of the wort; I scoop that out carefully- hot break