Clarifiers and the crap they leave in your carboy

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Bill · #1 Post by **Bill** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 12:28 pm

Sean did a product review of Whirlfloc tablets
http://www.lawrencebrewers.org/forum/vi ... .php?t=232
and I have used Irish Moss in the past (incorrectly I may add) and my question is:
how do I keep all that crap in the primary and keep it out of the secondary? I use a siphon cane to move from primary to secondary and I don't get clogged up but since there is such a large amount of the clarifying agent on the bottom of the carboy a lot comes over. I have resorted to using a trietary carboy to try and reduce the moss trub.
Is there a better method? what happens if that moss gets into the bottling bucket and eventually a bottle of beer? It would look like a fermented ball of snot.

And while I'm asking.... if I use a funnel and filter setup to move from primary to seconday, will I be removing all the yeast I will need to bottle ferment?

Blktre · #2 Post by **Blktre** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 12:48 pm

Bill,
Another round of very good questions......anywho...

It sounds like your dumping the entire boil with all the break, hops and moss into your fermentor, is that correct? If not, how is the clariying agent getting into your primary fermentor? How are you going from kettle to primary?

As far as secondarying goes, you will get some stuff in the secondary. Who cares? The purpose of a secondary is to allow the dead yeast and other crud to fall out, cleaning your beer which allows for conditioning. Using a racking cane with the cap fitting on the end of it will leave most things behind in any vessel used. When i rack, i will keep the end of my racking cane just below the surface of the beer keeping it in all the cleaner beer and rack down to the trub.

Another thing you can do is put the primary in the fridge (after terminal gravity) and let the cold knock stuff out and down to the bottom. I bulk cold condition most of my beers in secondary as well. But, its possible when doing that (depends on how long most the time) there may or may not be enuff yeast to carb. in the bottle. Some brewers will add some more yeast in the bottling bucket at bottling time if that is the case. Others report no problems.

As far as your question about moving primary to secondary using a funnel filter, i wouldnt do that fora few reasons, not so much as yeast removal, but for splashing your finished beer causing o2 to be introduced and increasing your chances of oxidation down the road.......

Greenblood · #3 Post by **Greenblood** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 1:10 pm

I agree with Andy here.

I always run my wort through a filter of some kind to leave hops and moss behind. Most of the guys with bigger set ups have false bottoms. My batches are still small enough that I just pour over through a funnel with a filter. It helps to aerate the must before pitching. The boil extracts what it needs from the moss. It does not need to go into the primary.

I usualy get my carboys good and cold before racking into secondary. That helps to pull the trub to the bottom. I too would discourage pouring over into secondary because of the risk of oxidation.

Bill · #4 Post by **Bill** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 1:24 pm

I would say that most of the crap came over because:
1) My inexperience with the processes and tools at hand
2) the fact that I used too little water and was barely over 4 gallons of wort so I tried to pull as much wort from the bottom as possible.

Remember that I only used moss once and like a dip$hit I followed the instructions on the web (said "one pack of Irish Moss") rather than the instructions on the bottle (1 teaspon (or whatever it said) per 5 gallons) so I had the entire bottle of moss in the wort. As you can imagine, this made for a lot of nasty crap in the bottom of the boil and the bottom of the primary.

So, I guess that once I actually use products in the way they are supposed to be, learn my proper water portions to get my final 5 gal of wort and get my siphoning technique down (I finally figured out to practice on water rather than live wort tests. duh) I think this issue will resolve itself.

the joys of learning!
Thanks for the response Andy!

Blktre · #5 Post by **Blktre** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 1:49 pm

What type of filtering device are you using in your kettle? Or are you siphoning from the kettle?

Bill · #6 Post by **Bill** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 3:03 pm

What type of filtering device are you using in your kettle? Or are you siphoning from the kettle?

straight siphon from wort boil to primary. My current boil kettle has no spigot.
My keggle does have a false bottom in it, but I'm currently only using that for my HL tank as it has a spigot and my wort boil does not, making it easier for me to get the hot water to the mashtun and my boil kettle. I don't want to siphon 170 degree water. Did that once, tends to warp the racking cane (and in hindsight, seems like a dumb idea).

BUT...

I did score a Bud 15.5 gal keg last weekend. If I could convert that over and get another propane burner, this will pretty much set me on track to get things done! I just need to make my rig so gravity will do the siphoning for me!
If you know what tools I need (or would be kind enough to volunteer your services/expertise), I'm sure that it would only take about 6 pints to get that keg cut open and the weldless fitting and temp gauge holes cut!

Blktre · #7 Post by **Blktre** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 3:39 pm

Bill wrote:
What type of filtering device are you using in your kettle? Or are you siphoning from the kettle?

If you know what tools I need (or would be kind enough to volunteer your services/expertise), I'm sure that it would only take about 6 pints to get that keg cut open and the weldless fitting and temp gauge holes cut!

Bring it over.........im finishing up one for Joe too..

Greenblood · #8 Post by **Greenblood** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 4:11 pm

What ever happened to getting weldless bulkheads in bulk? Do you guys remember who was going to get those?

John

Bill · #9 Post by **Bill** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 4:16 pm

I think someone said that Yoder would be heading that up, but don't quote me on that.

Blktre · #10 Post by **Blktre** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 4:47 pm

Bill wrote:I think someone said that Yoder would be heading that up, but don't quote me on that.

no, that was Jarrell and me. it kinda got put on the side burner as the amount of money up front was a tad high and other things kept coming up. But, if i can get everybodies money up front, id be more than happy to order a bunch of parts from McMaster and build these for you guys. You will end up saving anywhere from 5-10 bucks per unit and have the exact same bulkhead as the Zymie..........let me know..