Munton's IPA - Langer load of sediment in fermenter!

[Garry]

I did a Muntons Connoisseur's IPA Bitter with a hop tea à la craigtube (20g fuggles pellets boiled for 10min in a muslin bag). I used 1 kg DME and 200g dextrose.

I used Muntons Premium Gold Yeast which I hydrated before pitching.

It's been in the fermenter for 2 weeks now and there is an awful lot of sediment. Should I be worried? This is my first IPA. I tasted a few samples after doing the hydrometer readings and they seem fine. I was originally planning to leave it in the fermenter for 3 weeks and then bottle but now I'm wondering if I should rack to a secondary for a few weeks? I don't have a second bucket yet  :

[Greg2013]

One piece of advice get rid of that tap asap m8. In that pic i can see gunk trapped in there, perfect breeding ground for bacteria and off flavours to develop. Get yourself an auto syphon and if you can't get a blank to block off that tap outlet then get a brew bucket asap.

Never did an IPA but from what i can see everything looks fine. The convenience of having a tap is far outweighed by the dangers it poses to your brews IMHO.

[Blueshed]

looks fine, all my brews being like that. when im finished with the FV i take the tap off and was it out then put it back onto the FV.

[Greg2013]

Fair enough but i still say why take a risk, use an auto syphon. That being said its entirely up to the individual. Don't mind me its all Ciderhead's fault from the brew day the other day

[Garry]

No need to panic then? The brew appears ok  [smiley=thumbsup.gif]

The tap can be taken apart, so it's very easy to wash out afterwards. But would you think I'd be ok to bottle from this tap with so much sediment in it?

[Damo]

The convenience of having a tap is far outweighed by the dangers it poses to your brews IMHO.

Yeah, everything looks fine!

I've brewed 40-50 kits in fermenters with taps without any probs. Before you go to bottle its best practice to run a small amount into a glass and disgard.

I'm curious as to what this opinion is based upon?

[Ciderhead]

Fair enough but i still say why take a risk, use an auto syphon. That being said its entirely up to the individual. Don't mind me its all Ciderhead's fault from the brew day the other day

Dont be blaming me I never said anything about taps, but have to agree with you they are a pain in the arse
Ready Damo,
1) They need replacing every 3 or 4 years
2) Very occasionally they leek, I have had 1 in 20, and had my sleeve rolled up at one stage to tighten the nut
3) They need full sanitation, so strip down oxi, etc, and are general bacteria farms
4) Trub gathers in them and can potentially bugger up the twist mechanism
5) Some bottle straight from the tap, lots of air/foam
6) They get in the way
7) I never forget to close the fecking things when I am filling or cleaning and get soaked

I'm exhausted from coming up with bullshit excuses now .

Its a marmite thing you either do or you don't, I didn't, I fancied doing, I did, I now don't.

[Greg2013]

Damo it comes from 15 years experience working in the pharmaceutical industry in a clean enviroment. I have seen what a simple scratch can lead to i.e an explosion of bacterial infection.

Screwing up a million euro worth of pharmaceuticals because of
something so small is not only possible i have seen it happen more than once.

You might not have a problem for ten batches in a row but you will have a problem eventually. An auto syphon is just as easy to use, a lot easier to sterilise. Less prone to infection if cared for etc. Running a bit into a glass first does not get rid of any infections that might be present.

However like i said its personal choice, personally i don't see the point in risking it is all    

[LordEoin]

Nonsense. Provided the tap is sanitized properly it will not introduce infection. Everything should be sanitized properly anyway.
The deposit is just trub. It will be just as clean as the trub at the bottom of the FV.
Running some beer off is not to wash out any infection, it's just to blast the trub out of the tap.
It's not all waste either as it can be used for gravity readings and tasting, even if it's cloudy with yeast.

I love taps, and gravity.
I have my primary on top of my fridge. When it's done fermenting I blast a small glass through to clear the tap, attach a tube from the tap down through the airlock hole in the secondary in the fridge. Let it drain down, fit airlock, set the temperature, forget.
When it's time for bulk priming and bottling, I blast another small glass out, then hook the tube up to that tap and let it drain down back into the first bucket on the floor with priming sugar.
Finally, I use that tap for bottling.
My beers usually pass through 3 taps (when they go to secondary) and I've never had a problem with infection.

I did however experience most of Ciderhead's points, especially the one about forgetting to shut the feckin thing when cleaning (and occasionally when brewing), but that's hardly the tap's fault

I do syphon my wines and have no taps there, but that's only because I like clear glass demijohns so that I can stare in at the progress for hours.

Your beer looks fine Garry. Pour a bit, have a smell and a taste, and put your mind at ease 

[Greg2013]

Ok well then let me ask you what is trub?

[newToBrew]

......
It's been in the fermenter for 2 weeks now and there is an awful lot of sediment. Should I be worried? This is my first IPA. I tasted a few samples after doing the hydrometer readings and they seem fine. I was originally planning to leave it in the fermenter for 3 weeks and then bottle but now I'm wondering if I should rack to a secondary for a few weeks? I don't have a second bucket yet  :

lots of guys don't secondary at all - I do somtimes - sometimes I don't depends on how lazy I am and teh type of beer I've brewed - as in if its a stout wher eI don't care about clearing it or an IPA I want to clear

If the tasting and the samples are ok - you are probably ok - there is a thing called autolysis - where the yeasts becomes cannibals - but as far as I know that takes longer than a few weeks to happen - Some of the more Sciencey dudes here can probably correct me on that one - or be more specific as to when it takes longer and shorter

anyway
If your two weeks in - your probably at where your going to be  in terms of alcohol levels - you could leave it another week or 2 and then bottle
think of cider heads 1,2,3 Rule - just add 1 and 2 together if your not gonna secondary !!
You may end up with slightly more sediment in your bottles ??
but if you don't disturb that when your drinking you are probably ok

-- I have never really bottled from a primary before - not from the tap anyway - I usually rack to another bottling bucket so cant  comment on that

Ok well then let me ask you what is trub?

I don't get it - are you asking what is trub or saying that it carries infections ?
trub

I have taps on some buckets - not on others and have used both for primarys and secondarys - the whole bacteria can hide in scratches thing applies to the whole bucket - not just the tap !! and like the lads say - if you keep them clean your good  to go !!

[Garry]

Thanks for all the input fellas

I ordered another bucket last night (with a tap  ). I think I'll stick with my original plan and leave the brew alone for 3 weeks. But instead of bottling from the primary, I'll use the second bucket for bottling.  It will give me a chance to try out batch priming too 

[Robrew]

I have the same tap and fermenter as you Garry and I have to say when you take the tap apart it is very easy to clean and get all the sediment out of it. the trub at the bottom of your fermenter looks fine and I always get a small amount of trub in my tap too but I just bottle any way and the 1st bottle will just get that little bit of trub no probem