Gyle carbonation - advice

[Pierre Malan]

Hi everyone,

I am reasonably new to AG brewing, and playing around a bit.  After running a recent Emersons style pilsner, I dumped all the trub in the kettle - wort, cold break and hops - from the kettle into a pot that had been semi-sterilised with star san.  The wort was absolute muck going into the pot, but has since cleared nicely and there is now a fair bit of wort there to use for carbonation.

I was considering using the wort as gyle - there is a calculator for me to use here:

http://www.brewersfriend.com/gyle-and-krausen-priming-calculator/

The surface of the gyle is fairly clear - no sign of mould or fungus or infection ... yet ... but has been in the fridge at 3-4 degrees since brew day last Sunday.

My questions are:

- Is it reasonable to sterilise the gyle by carefully decanting it off and then boiling it?  How long to boil it for?  Could contamination survive this process?

- Does anyone think that I'll pick up nasty off flavours by resting on the trub for 8 or 9 days?  My gut says no, but then my gut also says 'eat those chips and don't worry, son'.  I plan to taste it before using it, but I know that my taste buds are still a bit lacking.

Anyway, a new technique so interested in any advice, feedback or warning.  If I chicken out it'll just be bog standard bottle carbonation.

Cheers in advance,

[Aidan Curran]

I don't see much to be gained by this approach but I'd worry about the risks of contamination or off-flavours. Sure you you can boil it to sanitise but is it worth the hassle? For the small amount of sugar needed for bottle carbing I don't believe using wort instead would make any significant improvement. If it is just a wastage prevention measure, my own approach is to dump trub and all into the fermenter. Some might frown at that but experiments have shown no negative effects and possibly even positive effects: http://brewinmyown.com/kettle-trub-in-fermenter-could-it-actually-b...

[Pierre Malan]

Thanks for that, a really interesting link that wound up taking me to http://brulosophy.com/.  Bam - there went a few hours.

I am interested in dumping all the trub in the fermenter - everyone seems to immediately scream 'hot break', but some of the links suggest no major issues.  I may give it a try and see what happens

cheers,

[Aidan Curran]

Yeah, the brulosophy 'exbeeriments' are very interesting

[Pierre Malan]

The dude is quite convincing.  Have you tried the 'dump it all, trub included' into a fermenter?  It sounds too good to be true...

[Aidan Curran]

Yeah, that's how I do it, dump all the trub into the fermenter. I'm currently doing a pilsner with his express lagering method.

[Richard Jack]

That's basically how I brew.

[JumpR]

Just spent a few hours on brulosophy as well after following that link :)