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Author Topic: Trub in an all-grain starter  (Read 3233 times)

Offline erockrph

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Trub in an all-grain starter
« on: September 13, 2013, 01:24:49 pm »
I recently grew up a pitch of Wyeast Canadian/Belgian from a bottle I brewed last year. I'm a big fan of the yeast and it's a seasonal strain that's not scheduled for release any time soon, so I decided to keep it going for a while. I decided to save the last ounce or so of yeast slurry and add some of the final "runnings" I set aside from the Belgian Pale Ale I was brewing to restart the starter.

So now I have a starter with a huge amount of trub - approximately 3 times as deep as the yeast slurry was in my last starter (and the yeast hasn't even started to floc out yet). Has anyone done an all-grain starter and run into this before? Any idea how I should handle the trub? I'm not growing a starter for a particular batch at the moment, but I just wanted to stockpile some relatively fresh slurry in the fridge for use later this fall.

I was thinking of either:

A) Wash the yeast to separate it from the trub, then store in a loosely closed mason jar in the fridge until I'm ready to use it

or

B) Just say "screw it" and dump the slurry and trub all together into a mason jar in hopes that the layers will separate and I can pour mostly yeast slurry off the top when I go to pitch.

Any thoughts or other suggestions?
Eric B.

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Offline morticaixavier

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Re: Trub in an all-grain starter
« Reply #1 on: September 13, 2013, 01:52:25 pm »
I've always just said screw it and pitched it all in trub and everything when working from saved yeast.  But I am not terribly concerned with trub as I have not seen any negative effects.
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Offline The Professor

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Re: Trub in an all-grain starter
« Reply #2 on: September 13, 2013, 02:18:10 pm »
I've always just said screw it and pitched it all in trub and everything when working from saved yeast.  But I am not terribly concerned with trub as I have not seen any negative effects.

Same here.  It's never affected the quality of the beer (and I've done it both ways, with no difference).  Even through my typical 5-8 generations of repitching saved yeast, it has never affected the finished beer.
Assuming you did everything else correctly along the way sanitation-wise, just dump it in and don't sweat it..
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Offline ynotbrusum

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Re: Trub in an all-grain starter
« Reply #3 on: September 14, 2013, 05:37:36 am »
+1, as long as it is reasonably fresh, still; otherwise make another starter from it.  For ease, I assume about half the cels die off per month (half by the end of 1 month, 3/4 by the end of 2 months and 7/8 by the end of 3 months). After 2 months, I would recommend a starter, unless you are brewing a smaller batch.
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Offline reverseapachemaster

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Re: Trub in an all-grain starter
« Reply #4 on: September 15, 2013, 11:48:23 am »
I would wash the yeast if you're worried about the trub. You can dump it all into mason jars and it will separate but you'll have a hard time pouring the yeast out of the jar without the trub coming with it. However, I think you'll be ok just dumping everything in the jars and pitching all the solid content, both yeast and trub.
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Offline clef051

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Re: Trub in an all-grain starter
« Reply #5 on: September 22, 2013, 05:53:58 am »
I'm with the just dump it all in people.  Although you could wash it if the trub bothered you.  It seems like a extra step that isn't really necessary to me.

Offline dmtaylor

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Re: Trub in an all-grain starter
« Reply #6 on: September 22, 2013, 05:58:32 am »
Trub is good for yeast.  It contains healthful nutrients.  Keep and use the entire starter.
Dave

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