[bspisak]

Goldhammer outlines a number of methods in his book The Brewer's Handbook. That link just shows excerpts and he goes into considerably more detail in the book itself.

If you do go the sedimentation route, he says that doing so before you pitch the yeast will lead to better cold break removal: 50% v. 30% from pitched wort.

The flotation method entails bubbling air up through the wort, waiting for it to create a scum on top, then draining the vessel from beneath. He says this can lead to 60-65% removal, but that it requires a flat bottomed vessel to prevent the scum from breaking up and falling back into the wort as it would in a conical. I suppose you could skim instead if using a conical.

He says DE filtration will remove 75-80% on average and up to 95% if using fine DE. However, he also says DE will strip other things from the wort leaving you a less full-bodied beer and there is problems keeping things sterile.

Seems like whirlpooling and racking is your best option unless you want to try skimming from your conical. Or, you could build a flotation tank, centrifuge or go the DE route.

Brian

[maxieboy]

Whirlpool and side pickup tube seems like a KISS and effective way to go. Wort loss with your current method or with a new and improved method on a cost basis is pretty small, IMO, when compared to the quality beer obtained at the end. I am a bit of a perfectionist myself and understand the desire to refine the process...Good luck and post pics of a new setup.

[blatz]

UPDATE:

well, after 4 batches since this thread, I have tried one with a pickup arm angled to the side with a chore boy on the end and 3 with a Sabco hinged false bottom.

On my preudo-Helles, the angled pickup arm clogged almost immediately and I had to rack the remainder with my autosiphon. Needless to say, I cursed a few times during that brew session.

OTOH, the false bottom worked fantastic. I was able to get more volume than my bazooka T, and was able to control how much cold break I let into the conical at the end. A little CB came through right as the siphon started, then it was crystal clear wort until the end, so I let about a cup of CB rich wort through and then cut it off.

Very, very happy with this new setup versus the B-T.

And I may be able to incorporate hop pellets now? Would be nice as about 50% of what I make now is german lagers - noble pellets are much more attractive.