HELP! 3 inches of break material in the bottom of my boiler!

[MartialAnt]

This is what ive done with the past 2 brews....

Drain off wort from boiler into FV. the pour the trub & the last bit of wort into a DJ. Leave that to settle then syphon off into another DJ & add yeast. First 1 i did i got 3L. 2nd brew roughly the same but i topped it up so i had a full DJ.

[HantsGaz]

Thaks Chris. Would that be between 0 and 5 degrees?

[HantsGaz]

OK, this is proving to be a very troublesome beer! Maybe some if it is down to my impatience but after fining with isinglass, three weeks of normal temp conditioning and a further three weeks of cold conditioning (in a 2 ltr sample in the fridge) the beer still has chill haze (in the bottle) and the yeast is still settling out with the main bulk in the Cornie! The cold conditioning has at least dropped all the yeast in the bottle (but I don’t have any room in my fridge for a cornie so cold conditioning the whole lot is out of the question).

I've been experimenting around with levels of isinglass on 300ml cloudy quantities from my Cornie but when I get the isinglass amount so that it clears the beer it leaves a lot of sediment both at the bottom of the trial jar and in suspension. So, I'm trying to consider my options on what to do next to clear the beer and remove the haze plus the yeast that’s still in suspension (as I’m done with waiting).

I now have at my disposal some Polyclar and some auxiliary finings. If I just use the Polyclar - will that help with dropping the yeast too? If so, what's the recommended way of making a Polyclar solution? I've brought the Brupaks Polyclar - but all that provides is the dosage rate, not how to knock it up, how long to leave it, whether to be careful with the sediment (I'm sure I read in Palmers book that Polyclar wasn’t approved by the food industry or the likes!) etc?

Any suggestions on what to do here would be great.

Thanks, Gaz.

As a side note, next time I boil I'm going to also add gypsum to the boil (already treating the mash water) - as reading Graham's new book it says that will help with wort clarity along with other things - and I’ll also add auxiliary finings as well as isinglass (24 hrs apart).

[HantsGaz]

Thanks Chris - I just can’t cold condition in large quantities, well, anything over 2 litres! So that kinda rules that route out.

Do you know if Polyclar only removes haze or can it fine as well?

I'm doing just about everything you mention above - using Whirlfloc, using a twin IC, hops rolling around freely, treating water etc – and I've only been siphoning off the clear wort (top down) after a boil and leaving the masses of light fluffy sediment behind. One thing I've wondered is that should I be seeing the cold break material (cloudy stuff!) when I chill with the IC - as I never have seen what I’d expect too? I've only seen the clouds (a) on your website on the mini mash pages and (b) in samples of wort taken during different times during the boil and then left overnight to cool (as per my pictures in this thread). I’ve read that an insufficient cold break can cause chill haze, to wondering if that is a possible culprit (but my twin IC does cool the wort in 15 mins)....

Gaz.

[HantsGaz]

Thanks again Chris and will update once I've added the Polyclar and left it for around 24hrs. I guess the amount of Polyclar you suggested is for a 23L brew length?

[HantsGaz]

Chris, I've just re-read the limited instructions on the PolyClar. It says use 5g per 25L - but - to add 2 hours before adding finings. So, although I've added finings already (hence how I know I have chill haze) I've given it a go anyway. Do you think I should add another dose of finings - I'm thinking that if there isn't yeast in suspension - there's not much point. So not sure how successful this test may be!!

[HantsGaz]

"Hurry" - the beer has been maturing for 7 weeks . I’ll leave it 24 hours and see if the Polyclar works - I've tested it on a 5lr sample. It just puzzled me as I thought Polyclar was used as a cure, not a prevention - but the instructions indicate that it's used in conjunction with finings - so when the brewer probably doesn’t know if chill haze will be a problem. In my case, however, it doesn’t matter as I always seem to get it!!

The yeast I used was WLP004 (Irish Ale) and I've had 2 litres in the fridge for 4 weeks and that hasn't thrown the chill haze - but is has dropped the yeast nicely.

Gaz.

[clogwog]

After I drain my boiler, I'm left with about 1½ litres of trub.

I drain that seperately through a strainer, and pour the resultant wort into a PET bottle. That goes into the freezer, to be subsequently boiled and used for starter worts.

Waste problem solved.

[simple one]

Right, I had a similar problem when I started AG. Exactly the same pictures, exactly the same fluffy textures. Having to leave it long term to compress so i could grain it off. It got to the point were i got a set of tights, sterilized them, doubled them up, and used them like a jam strainer for the wort from the boiler.

Then! I realised I wasn't sparging properly. Most of the powdery flour with the malt was getting through in to the boiler....

So what i do now is pretty much recycle the whole wort back over the grain bed to ensure it is all properly filtered during the sparge, and then bring in the sparge liqour as normal. It makes a 2 hour job turn in to a 4 hour one.... but it worked for me.

This may not be the issue that you need to consider, but it looks exactly like my boiler did!

matt

[simple one]

In fact looked at the glasses and your wort is crystal out of the tun. Ignore my advice!