How much do you leave behind in the kettle?

[denimglen]

Hello all, I apologise if this has been asked before, a search didn't bring much up.

My brewhouse efficiency is currently at about 66% for 20L into the fermenter.

I'm losing from 3.5 - 4L to trub in the kettle, which seems like a lot, if I can reduce this to 2L my efficiency jumps to about 73%. Whirlpooling is proving unsuccessful in my kettle and I like to get as much clear wort into the fermenter as possible.

I'm also looking into my mash and lauter efficiency as I realise my lowish efficiency may be a result of all three.

Good malt is quite expensive here so I figure that I should try and fix any losses that won't reduce quality.

While my beer's not suffering as such I'm mostly wondering what in my process may be different to others. And before I start trying to fix a problem that might not exist I'd thought I'd see how my numbers compare.

So the questions are:

What is your batch size?

How much do you leave behind in the kettle (if any)?

What is your brewhouse efficiency?

Thanks all

 

[smizak]

I leave a half gallon in my kettle. Sometimes more if I have a big hop bill. I also leave a half gallon in my fermenter. To me, it's worth it to sacrifice a gallon of wort/beer to have really clean beer in the fermenter and bottles. All of my recipes are made for 6 gallons. I used to dump everything, trub and hops, into a funnel to my carboy...bleh. I used to hate looking at the muddy, chunky mess. I'm proud of the nice clear wort/beer I get into my fermenter and bottling bucket.

My brewhouse eff. works out to 67%. I use efficiency into the kettle to formulate recipes, which I get around 80%. My actual batch size is 5 gal., into bottles. I use 6 gals. in Beersmith.

 

[david_42]

For a 20L batch, I leave whatever is in the hops. If I'm using pellets, that can be as little as 0.25L. I have a bazooka filter in the kettle and tilt the kettle while draining. I've never calculated my brewhouse efficiency, but since I hit my gravities consistently, it must be around 75%.

 

[Houblon]

20l batchs = .25l left behind(trub)

 

[Sedge]

after thorough vorlauf, I transfer really clear wort to my boil. Then I leave maybe a half inch in the kettle, and its pretty clear to the fermenter that way. the IC does a great job for me at sinking break material. I'll then leave behind another half inch above the trub going to the bottling bucket. Damn I need a kegging system.

 

[alcibiades]

i dont know the exact amount - but i left what looked like to be atleast a quarter gallon in my 5 gallon batch a few days ago. its annoying.

 

[Yankeehillbrewer]

Almost none, a while back I started putting a sanitized paint strainer over my fermentor and then I just dump the kettle right through it. It catches all my boil hops and a fair amount of the break material. Then I pull the paint strainer out, let it drain, and give it a good wringing out. I figure since I constantly have my hands in Iodophor at this point i don't have to worry about any nasties. So far so good, with minimal Wort loss. Maybe a bit outside of popular opinion but it works for me.

 

[NCBeernut]

As little as possible. Don't worry about getting break material into your fermenter - it will just fall out with the yeast and other trub, and it can actually be beneficial for the yeast. I do try to leave behind as much hop material as possible though. If you use whole leaf hops, this thing works like a charm:

http://www.midwestsupplies.com/products/ProdByID.aspx?ProdID=4240

I get just about every bit of wort into my kettle when I use it, and all of the hops are left behind. It clogs almost immediately with pellets hops though.

 

[frolickingmonkey]

72-75% efficiency for average gravity beers. I leave 1-2 quarts in the kettle, end up with 5.25 gallons in the fermenter, and 5 gallons in the keg. I typically end up with some trub and other gunk in the fermenter and the keg. I don't particular care if my ales are clear by the time I drink them, but they usually are. the couple of lagers I have done were crystal clear by the time they've been finished lagering for a couple of months.

 

[user 29674]

I use muslin bags for my boil hops and only leave about a cup or two behind in the kettle with the small amount of hop matter that makes it through the bag.

 

[springer]

maybe 2-3 oz when the siphon breaks. I use a 5 gallon paint strainer beg for the hops and the break goes into the fermentor. I lose maybe a 1/4 gallon after cold crashing the cake is very compact.

 

[magnj]

I usually leave about 3 cups in the bottom of my kettle. This week I had to pour it all in because I had no siphon. Kind of pissed because I like to harvest my yeast cake but now there will be a lot of crap in it.

 

[denimglen]

Thanks everyone, looks like I'm making too much trub or being too pedantic about how much ends up in the fermenter - most likely the latter.