when to rack

db · Post by db » Friday Dec 03, 2004 11:54 am

found this on a forum yesterday & found it interesting..

"all beers should be removed from the trub as soon as possible after seeing the beginning signs of fermentation."

"3 days is too long because at that point, trub would be distributed throughout the fermenting wort via convection and CO2 production."

from: http://www.beertools.com/forum/viewtopi ... ight=#6766

does anyone else rack this early?

Gough · Post by **Gough** » Friday Dec 03, 2004 12:29 pm

This quote 'probably' refers to someone who has boiled their full wort and then chucked the whole lot in the fermenter without making any effort to leave behind the break material (trub). That's the only reason I could see for suggesting it, and even then I'd only be worried if I was trying to produce a super crystal clear Lager of some kind. IMHO racking this early (just after start of fermentation) exposes the beer to too great a risk of oxidation and/or infection, as well as a real risk of a stuck ferment, for not much appreciable gain.

Again though, the context of the quote might give the answer. I rack at or very near the end of primary fermentation. Others swear by doing it at half gravity, although less than used to, but I've not heard of too many racking just as fermentation actually begins.

My 2 cents...

Shawn.

db · Post by db » Friday Dec 03, 2004 12:45 pm

This quote 'probably' refers to someone who has boiled their full wort and then chucked the whole lot in the fermenter without making any effort to leave behind the break material (trub).

right you are.. the guy is a professional brewer & explains later (probly should have read the rest of the thread before posting hey?

):

"definition of trub = a slurry mixture of a little hot break, some vegetal matter (hops/grain), yeast and mostly, cold break. These are what you need to decant off of as soon as the first signs of krausen appears. If you have ever talked to a competent pub or micro brewer that uses conical fermenters, they will tell you that 12 hours after pitch they bleed off the bottom of the fermenter until it runs clear. This is the same technique I am explaining to you, but you are not using conicals, so you have to siphon the wort off."

Gough · Post by **Gough** » Friday Dec 03, 2004 1:58 pm

That makes more sense. Commercial techniques are a fair bit different to what most of us are doing at home. Ah, to have some nice shiny new stainless steel conical fermenters...

Shawn.

db · Post by db » Friday Dec 03, 2004 2:03 pm

indeed.

makes you wonder why someone hasn't made a plastic equivilent suited to homebrewing..

Dogger Dan · Post by **Dogger Dan** » Friday Dec 03, 2004 10:17 pm

I manage to leave the hot break behind which accounts reportedly for 80 percent of trub. As I filter my beer, I loose the cold break at the end.

Dogger