13 Jul
2005
13 Jul
'05
11:56 a.m.
If it ain't broken, don't fix it, so unless there is a specific flaw
you're trying to address, leave well enough alone.
That said, from the time the malt is milled to the time bottles get
filled, brewers employ various procedures along the way to reduce
proteins and particulate matter, such as recirculation in the mash
tun, irish moss, whirlpooling, and filtration with whole hops in the
boil kettle, etc. So, if clarity is the issue, make sure you're
doing all those stand practice things to produce bright beer.
Trub removal after chilling and prior to pitching yeast is trivial
with the right equipment. That is, if you have a conical fermenter
with an outlet spigot at the bottom, you let the trub settle and just
open the valve to pull out the trub. Otherwise, it is a major hassle
and I've never found it to be worth it. After all, the yeast does
need some trub.
-----------------------------------------------------
Mike Valentiner, Minneapolis, MN
On Jul 12, 2005, at 1:04 PM, Andrew Ruggles wrote:
Mike,
I'm not sure what exactly you are trying to accomplish. Is there
something in the flavor of your beer that you've noticed that you
think
could be attributed to hot/cold break?
FWIW, in my opinion, you let your hops handle the hot break and don't
worry about the cold break.
As Rick mentioned, it depends on your specific brewery as to how to
remove hot break. In the 2 Wheel Brewery, we use as many whole hops as
the volume can handle, using a small amount of pellets only for
bittering. Hot wort comes out of the boil kettle through a slotted
copper manifold, with the whole hops holding back most of the hot
break.
When Maggie was brewing in the big kettle, his system was set up to
use
only pellets, then he would whirlpool, rest, and siphon from the edge.
Personally, I would be more concerned with hot-side aeration problems
than hot break removal, and would caution you that using filters
outside of the boil kettle could potentially cause more harm than
good.
As for cold break, forgettaboutit.
Andrew
--- Rick Oftel <Rick.Oftel(a)toro.com> wrote:
One of the challenges with the crud is how much
your specific brewery
creates and where it is created.
1. The immersion chiller produces cold break in the boil
kettle.
After cooling, give it 10 minutes of settling and most of the stuff
should settle out. Siphon or drain slowly and most of the material
remains behind.
2. Whirlpool and let it settle 10 minutes after cooling.
Siphon
from the edges.
3. Counterflow chillers produce much more cold break than
immersion chillers. About the only way to clear up your wort is to
collect the mess in a carboy, allow it to settle for 1 hour, and
before
the yeast kick in, rack to a second carboy.
4. I have use a small SS strainer that can be attached to the
end
of a siphon tube to exclude crud. The only problem is it can become
very slow.
5. One last way I read about is to cool the wort and use
sterile
air to float the crud to the top of the wort. As you keep the stuff
suspended, you slowly drain the wort from the bottom of the kettle.
No
idea if it works but it sure sounds slick!
Rick
-----Original Message-----
From: mba-bounce(a)thebarn.com [mailto:mba-bounce@thebarn.com] On
Behalf
Of Mike Behrendt
Sent: Tuesday, July 12, 2005 10:45 AM
To: mba(a)thebarn.com
Subject: How to filter wort after the boil
I'm looking for tips on how to move the wort at the completion of the
boil into a carboy and remove most of the solids.
I've tried strainers, cheesecloth and one attempt at a whirlpool in
the
brewpot.
So, let's all share any tips on how to do it and also things NOT to
do,
like don't use the little strainer that comes with some funnels.
thanks!
--
//Mike Behrendt
MGBehrendt(a)mn.rr.com