[pyrite]

I brewed a Pliny the Elder clone this past weekend.   At the end of the whirlpool my pump got stuck, and to make a long story short I poured the wort into the carboy with trub and all.  I have always tried to keep as much trub away as possible, however this time all the trub and hops went into the carboy with the wort. Will this effect the beer flavor in a harsh way?

[tschmidlin]

You'll be fine.  Lots of people end up with a lot of trub in their carboy, I would just be a little more diligent about racking when fermentation is complete.  In your case I would probably rack to secondary and dry hop there, but you can still dry hop with the trub if you like. 

[ryang]

agreed.  I've made several award winning ipa's and I never bother with removing the trub.  it all goes in.  I usually rack it over and dry hop in a secondary like tom mentioned.  sometimes not.  I get pretty lazy sometimes.

[morticaixavier]

Shouldn't the trub provide some nice lipids for the yeast? might even be better assuming the OP doesn't aerate with pur oxegen or something. could be wrong. I always end up with a lot of trub. can't seem to get the whirpool to work with just my stir spoon. This next time around I am going to try to use a coper scrubby as a 'filter' so we will see.

[thcipriani]

Shouldn't the trub provide some nice lipids for the yeast?

My understanding is that while lipids are essential for yeast growth an excess of lipids means that the level of Acetyl-CoA will not be reduced by the yeast to form sterols meaning a higher acid content which means that there is more acid available for the production of esters.

This theory was verified by the experiments at New Belgium brewery where they added olive oil instead of oxygen to their yeast - thereby providing lipids to the yeast directly and not relying on the yeast to produce them using O2 and Acetyl-CoA...and other stuff...probably...see text here:

http://brewcrazy.com/hull-olive-oil-thesis.pdf

Further, excess lipids (according to Fix - and I don't remember the science on this one and I'm just too lazy to look it up) can lead to premature beer staling.

That being said, I agree with everyone else in this thread - as long as the beer was brewed well the difference between this beer and one where there is no trub will be negligible.

[richardt]

... I always end up with a lot of trub. can't seem to get the whirpool to work with just my stir spoon. This next time around I am going to try to use a coper scrubby as a 'filter' so we will see.

Straining on the input side of the kettle spigot or racking cane has its challenges.  I always struggle with how much wort seems to get left behind in the trub pile with the cold break and hop pellets.  It just seems wasteful.

I strain on the output side of the BK spigot by using an extra fine mesh ("Bullion") SS china cap strainer over the fermentation bucket.  Hop pellets don't make it through (except for the extremely fine powder-like particles, perhaps), but the break material does.  There are a lot of opinions about it, but, as you look around the forum, there are a lot of veterans that say it doesn't matter if the break material gets into the primary fermenter.  I like the fact that I lose very little wort by doing it this way (= more beer!)

You can always rack into the secondary fermenter later; just make sure you pull plenty of yeast along with the wort/beer into the secondary.  I almost never do secondary fermentation anymore.  It isn't worth the extra effort and contamination risk in my experience--the beers seem fine sitting on the trub/yeast cake for a few weeks, if necessary.  Work and family life often gets in the way of any idealized brewing schedule.  Don't worry about it.

[morticaixavier]

... I always end up with a lot of trub. can't seem to get the whirpool to work with just my stir spoon. This next time around I am going to try to use a coper scrubby as a 'filter' so we will see.

Straining on the input side of the kettle spigot or racking cane has its challenges.  I always struggle with how much wort seems to get left behind in the trub pile with the cold break and hop pellets.  It just seems wasteful.

I strain on the output side of the BK spigot by using an extra fine mesh ("Bullion") SS china cap strainer over the fermentation bucket.  Hop pellets don't make it through (except for the extremely fine powder-like particles, perhaps), but the break material does.  There are a lot of opinions about it, but, as you look around the forum, there are a lot of veterans that say it doesn't matter if the break material gets into the primary fermenter.  I like the fact that I lose very little wort by doing it this way (= more beer!)

You can always rack into the secondary fermenter later; just make sure you pull plenty of yeast along with the wort/beer into the secondary.  I almost never do secondary fermentation anymore.  It isn't worth the extra effort and contamination risk in my experience--the beers seem fine sitting on the trub/yeast cake for a few weeks, if necessary.  Work and family life often gets in the way of any idealized brewing schedule.  Don't worry about it.

Yeah I don't worry to much about it. the only problem I was having last time was that the cone hops kept clogging the output of the kettle.

[pyrite]

Very interesting information guys. Usually after the whilpool cycle finishes I discard about 1/2-1 gallon of wort, leaving it behind in the kettle with the trub and the hops.  Now after hearing that it doesn't matter if the trub goes into the fermenter I will not be so wasteful.

I followed the Pliny the Elder recipe found in Zymurgy, to the T.  So this brew has already been through dry hoping and primary fermentation has finished after only 12 days, but I'll give it another 5 days before I transfer the beer over to the corny.  Hopefully this brew brightness and clears up from all the excess trub.


This sucker is getting tapped Thanksgiving day. Can't wait to see how close it is to the real thing.       

[1vertical]

Please do Tell....upon your sampling how it goes...

[richardt]

Even by being less wasteful, there is enough wort left behind in the trub pile that can be used for OG readings. 
Let it settle in a tall glass for half an hour or more and pour the clear supernatant into the graduated cylinder for the OG reading.