Wort lost to spent grains and trub

Production methods from starch to sugars.

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Plc Ryan
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Wort lost to spent grains and trub

Post by Plc Ryan »

Just wondering roughly how much wort members typically lose to the grains when they are squeezed and how much is lost to trub in the fermentor? I'm losing not quite but close to a third and thinking that's a little high. I lose most of it to trub in my secondary even after letting it clear for multiple days. I will add I haven't used liquid enzymes and will be shortly. From my reading they help with thinning and separating the mash.
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Re: Wort lost to spent grains and trub

Post by WIski »

I lose about 1/3 of the water I start with. Kills me every time. Makes me wonder about fabricating a steam rig to stop the madness. :eugeek:
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Re: Wort lost to spent grains and trub

Post by ShineonCrazyDiamond »

My guess would be you're using cracked corn and bakers?

Use a finer crack (corn meal), and use an ale yeast like us 05 or something. Flocculates well.

And if you ain't using a mop wringer, you should.
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Plc Ryan
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Re: Wort lost to spent grains and trub

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ShineonCrazyDiamond wrote:My guess would be you're using cracked corn and bakers?

Use a finer crack (corn meal), and use an ale yeast like us 05 or something. Flocculates well.

And if you ain't using a mop wringer, you should.
I do use cracked corn and bread yeast. However I crack the corn further. Not quite meal but I would say twice as fine as cracked corn at least. I do use a mop Paul as well. I find I do t lose all that much to sparking. Maybe 4 gallons on a 30 gallon ferment with 60 pounds of grain. My biggest problem is racking off of the trub I lose a lot there. May try switching yeasts and hoping adding liquid enzymes will also help.
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Re: Wort lost to spent grains and trub

Post by still_stirrin »

Plc Ryan wrote:...My biggest problem is racking off of the trub I lose a lot there.
Awe c'mon man...don't be so cheap!

If you lose 10% to the trub when racking, then adjust the ferment size accordingly. The grains are cheap and the shrinkage is not expensive. You're worrying about the wrong things here. Simply brew more, or more often if the quantity of the slurry left behind is bothering you. A 10% larger ferment will brew in the same timeframe and it'll ferment out in the same time as well. If you've brewed the same recipe more than once or twice, you should be able to estimate the trub in the fermenter. Control your processes and stop worrying about anomalies.
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Re: Wort lost to spent grains and trub

Post by Plc Ryan »

still_stirrin wrote:
Plc Ryan wrote:...My biggest problem is racking off of the trub I lose a lot there.
Awe c'mon man...don't be so cheap!

If you lose 10% to the trub when racking, then adjust the ferment size accordingly. The grains are cheap and the shrinkage is not expensive. You're worrying about the wrong things here. Simply brew more, or more often if the quantity of the slurry left behind is bothering you. A 10% larger ferment will brew in the same timeframe and it'll ferment out in the same time as well. If you've brewed the same recipe more than once or twice, you should be able to estimate the trub in the fermenter. Control your processes and stop worrying about anomalies.
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I totally hear what you are saying and that's the route I was actually planning on going. I just wanted to make sure there wasn't something I was doing, or neglecting to do for that matter, that would lead to less loss.
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Re: Wort lost to spent grains and trub

Post by jb-texshine »

I use cornmeal and by the time I'm done squeezing it with a paint strainer and mop wringer what's left is just slightly damp. Never even noticed a loss. Then I let settle over nite and symphony the clearer part to the boiler and the slop goes in the thump
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Re: Wort lost to spent grains and trub

Post by MichiganCornhusker »

Um, when did 1/3 = 10%?

Yes, I too hate to see so much left behind in the carboy.
Steam stripping will allow you to recover the alcohol, but at what cost? You are also steam stripping yeast and grain debris.
And you won't recover the third, at best I recover 20%-25%. But it's still something.

Bottom line is yes, having a lot left behind after racking is normal.
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Re: Wort lost to spent grains and trub

Post by Truckinbutch »

I've recovered as much as 80%of a 30 gallon/60# grain bill with a fine grind and enzymes . 12 gallon clear and 12 gallon strained and squeezed slop . Didn't leave much behind .
However , by being that frugal , I been tasting more yeast in the product .
Several of us have bandied this about . I think I am going to sacrifice volume for clarity for a few runs and see if that improves quality .
I might also reserve slop and steam distill as a separate run .
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Re: Wort lost to spent grains and trub

Post by jb-texshine »

I been thinking about the slop and think I'll try stripping it by placing in the thump with just water in the primary. Then save those low wines separate. There's always a use for them even if it has to be reran.
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Re: Wort lost to spent grains and trub

Post by Truckinbutch »

jb-texshine wrote:I been thinking about the slop and think I'll try stripping it by placing in the thump with just water in the primary. Then save those low wines separate. There's always a use for them even if it has to be reran.
My thoughts as well . I'm thinking about triple running some of that with the second run being a spirit run . Run that a third time with apple pie mix in the thumper for some of Jed's clear apple pie mix .
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Re: Wort lost to spent grains and trub

Post by Still Life »

jb-texshine wrote:I use cornmeal and by the time I'm done squeezing it with a paint strainer and mop wringer what's left is just slightly damp. Never even noticed a loss. Then I let settle over nite and symphony the clearer part to the boiler and the slop goes in the thump
Amen to the strainer and wringer. The dumped grain is moist at worst.
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Re: Wort lost to spent grains and trub

Post by Plc Ryan »

Thanks for all the input folks. I kind of figured was in the right ball park but just wanted to make sure. Been doing this for a while now but just really scaled up this summer and was noticing a lot more loss on 20-30 gallon ferments than I was on 6 haha. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't doing something wrong.

Plan on stepping up my game with liquid enzymes. Don't have a thumper yet it once I get a second keg I'll be building one.
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