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Author Topic: Break Material / Trub  (Read 2475 times)

Offline ericberryericberry

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Break Material / Trub
« on: January 02, 2014, 06:55:14 am »
I am relatively new to brewing, but I have done about 20 all grain batches.  On New Years Day I decided to try the recipe on the AHA home page - the Bosmo's Imperial Cream Ale.  I followed the recipe fairly closely, except I scaled it down to a 3 gallon batch.  I also do the BIAB method. 

Everything basically went according to plan, and I hit my mash tempatures as I had hoped.   I boiled off slightly more than expected, but nothing significant (although I guess that this contributed to a higher than expected OG).  After cooling with an immersion chiller, I began transferring the wort into the fermentor.  However, this batch had a ton of break material - WAY more than I have ever experienced before.  I usually run the wort throught a large sanatized strainer to filter out the hops that I use.  But with so much slop and geletinous goo from the break material / trub, it quickly clogged my strainer and made it a huge headache. 

Can anyone give me any insight on why there was so much more break material / trub in this batch?  I have never brewed with flaked maize before - could that be a reason? 

Offline ynotbrusum

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Re: Break Material / Trub
« Reply #1 on: January 03, 2014, 03:54:58 pm »
The flaked maize must have contributed to the gelatinous goo.  I am assuming that you vorlaufed well on your mash run off?  If so, then it was just a lot of break material from the boil and chilling.  I have done pilsners that have the look of  egg drop soup after chilling and they cleared just fine at the point of serving, but I try to leave a good portion of the break behind in the boil kettle when possible (I have a SS screen in my boil kettle and I add hops in mesh bags to minimize the solids in the kettle).

I wouldn't worry about it.  But you can add gelatin after fermentation, if you want a clearer beer for serving or just wait it out.

Cheers!
Hodge Garage Brewing: "Brew with a glad heart!"

Offline ericberryericberry

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Re: Break Material / Trub
« Reply #2 on: January 05, 2014, 12:00:54 pm »
Thanks. I actually do not vorlauf with my Biab setup. Is there a good way to do that when doing biab?

I should say that I am not too worried about the effect on the final taste, but it just made it more difficult to filter out the hops after boil (and created some vulnerability to infection that I normally do not have because I had to keep clearing my strainer). 

Could the really long mash called for in that recipe have contributed to it too?

Thanks again for the input?

Offline reverseapachemaster

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Re: Break Material / Trub
« Reply #3 on: January 06, 2014, 08:29:13 am »
The maize is probably responsible for the additional trub. It will settle out after fermentation.

You can't vorlouf with BIAB because you're removing the grains from the wort, rather than the other way around. In a traditional mash tun set up the grain acts as a filter bed to catch that material.
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Offline ynotbrusum

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Re: Break Material / Trub
« Reply #4 on: January 06, 2014, 12:43:42 pm »
Oops, missed the BIAB comment.  You can siphon carefully from the side of the boil kettle after whirl pooling during the chill and get some break and trub to settle in the middle of the kettle and then run off to the fermenter through a double strainer to reduce the starting goo a bit.  I did that this past weekend with some success on a recipe CP calls Claude of Neptune 2, an amber lager.
Hodge Garage Brewing: "Brew with a glad heart!"

Offline ericberryericberry

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Re: Break Material / Trub
« Reply #5 on: January 06, 2014, 02:20:20 pm »
Thanks for the input. 

I have not had too much luck trying a whirlpool after the immersion chiller, but I will give it another shot next time to hopefully avoid the clogged trainer and problems transferring to the carboy.

Offline Jeff M

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Re: Break Material / Trub
« Reply #6 on: January 08, 2014, 04:49:28 pm »
how about using a mesh filter bag attached to the end of your hose?  Would do double duty by adding oxygen while filtering and catching all the goop.
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Offline jweiss206

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Re: Break Material / Trub
« Reply #7 on: January 10, 2014, 12:45:07 pm »
I've had pretty good success running the wort through a mesh bag, over a strainer and into a filtered funnel. Works well for me at the moment, but am looking to add a spout to my boil kettle.