Removing break material before fermenting

[HantsGaz]

Hi All,

Do many people rack off wort (after chilling) to an interim vessel, wait for the break material to settle out, then rack the upper clearer wort to a fermenter? Just wondering if it makes any difference to fermentation, taste etc if you do this; or is it best just to ferment the wort including break materials?

Thanks, Gaz.

[Whorst]

After the wort is cool, take a large spoon and create a whirlpool. Wait about 10 minutes, and siphon off the side of your boiler. You should have very clear wort, with the break material in the center of your boiler.

[HantsGaz]

I've tried the creating the whirlpool effect, but it seems to take a lot longer than 10 mins for the break material to settle. And when it does settle it's still normally over the level the tap (always a good 2 inches high)! If I decant to another vessel then it normally takes about two hours for the break material to 'sediment out' to a level that I can syphon from. So, for me, the only way I've managed to ferment a clear wort is to do it this way.

[Northern Brewer]

It is my understanding that the presence of lots of trub over a period of time can lead to soapy flavours. I have recently changed my methodology and as a consequence lots of break material has been finding its way into the fermenter. Initially this bothered me, but having tried various ways of overcoming the problem, I have started to conclude that this is largely imaginary.

In short, over the last few brews I have...

1. Ignored the trub, pitched the yeast and kegged after 7-10 days.
2. Racked off the trub the following morning, then pitched the yeast
3. Pitched the yeast and then racked off the trub the following morning
4. Pitched and racked after 36, 48, and 72 hours (3 different brews)

Each beer has turned out star bright with no discernible off-flavours whatsoever.

[HantsGaz]

Interesting. I hadn't noticed a difference in flavour, but I've only been brewing stouts recently (if that would make a difference). The only difference I've noticed is that when fermenting with the break material there is a lot more trub/yeast build up in the fermenter than if fermenting with no break material (I guess the difference in amount is just the normal yeast/trub plus the break material).

[Whorst]

It's not going to work if you have a tap on your boiler, unless you use a sieve as a filter before it hits your fermenter. By boiler is just a 10 gallon stainless steel pot. I whirpool, wait, then siphon off the side. All the break material is left in the center of the boiler.

[Muttley]

I've only just picked up this thread - hope I'm not too late.

After the boil I normally allow the wort to cool (and the spent hops to settle) for about half an hour before draining it into my fermentation bin. It's at this point that I use my chiller to cool the wort to about 25 degrees. Would it be better to cool the wort in the boiler and then drain it into the FB, thereby filtering off a lot of the trub in the process? I haven't noticed any off flavours by doing this, though.

[Muttley]

Chris - thanks for the advice. I was a little concerned that the hops may become a bit stewed by leaving the wort to cool in the boiler. I'll carry on doing what I've always done and ferment with the cold break in situ. I usually skim off the worst of the trub in the first day or two of the fermentation, anyway.

[Whorst]

I don't necessarily think break material is bad either. My problem is having 1-2 inches of trub at the trub of your fermenter. That starts to effect how much beer you end up with.

[Muttley]

Thanks Whorst. I seem to remember that Matt (CBA prize winner) said that he ferments with the cold break material in his fermenting bin, so I suppose it can't be that detrimental!

How's the TT Landlord coming on I made some last year using Graham Wheeler's recipe - the genuine stuff is gorgeous. It wasn't bad but I felt it was a bit too hoppy. What recipe did you use?

[Whorst]

Landlord clone is doing very well. Naturally conditioning in the corny. I just used Floor Malted Maris Otter, Fuggles for bittering, EKG for flavor, and Styrians whirlpooled. I think I was just a tad over 40 IBU's. Flavor out of the fermenter was excellent.

[mysterio]

I recirculate the wort in the kettle at the end of the boil to get a filtering effect from the whole hops. It leaves most of the visible trub in the kettle. I think I get extra clarity from my beers by leaving the bulk of it behind.

[Muttley]

Mysterio - so you run off the boiled wort and then pour it back into the boiler and filter it through the spent hops. Interesting idea. Thanks.

[hoppingMad]

I've not been able to notice flavour differences between having settled out more or less of the trub before syphoning to the fermenter. I do a lot of light lagers too. But I will pay more attention to this topic and see if I can detect anything.

[HantsGaz]

Just reading through the threads again – all good stuff, thanks. Whorst mentioned that I could use a sieve to remove the break material so that got me thinking back to my original post (albeit that the general consensus is that break materials aren’t too bad).

The granularity of the break material I was referring to is much smaller than a sieve can handle. I remember last time I decanted off my fermented wort into demijohns and added finings to see what happened. Even after a few days of adding finings and chilling the demijohns to 5 degrees C there was still about an inch of extremely light sediment left in some (above the dropped yeast). I assumed this to be break material - is this correct? I'm using White Labs Irish Ale yeast and this flocculates fairly well, so I wasn't thinking it was yeast as it looks exactly the same as the break material after the boil (that I'm referring to). Could I still have break material left – or is it something else I’m seeing (like tiny grain particles – or is that trub too )?

Thanks, Gaz.