TRUB out of the kettle

[Paul O' North]

Hops in cattle feed

I was predisposed to say "no" due to an apparent and known toxicity in dogs, which results in "malignant hyperhermia," the inability to relieve it by panting, and death.

But apparently in the cattle industry, some anyway do not discount its use. From:
http://www.wisc.edu/dysci/uwex/nutri...eedstuffs.html

"Brewers dried grains is defined (Feed Industry Red Book, 1994) as the dried extracted residue of barley malt alone or in mixture with other cereal grain or grain products resulting frorri the manufacture of wort or beer and may contain pulverized dried spent hops in an amount not to exceed 3%, evenly distributed..."

I have not seen anything else. I would, myself, rather be safe and use only spent grains from the tun than trub and spent hops.

Paul

[Michael Murphy]

Today I climed in, its quite hot and clostraphopic, I only hit my head twice on the spray ball... But I got it all out in 5-10 mins, rinsing was easy, just needed someone else outside taking the 10 or so 5 gal buckets i filled up out..

Dont try this without rubber boots on...

Thanks, I dont know why I didnt think of that...

[pbutlert]

Trub removal

I have a 10 Bbl. JVNW kettle (1994 model) that has a 3" drain/clean-out behind a dam. It is reduced to 1 1/2" into the pump. After knock-out, we pop off the 3" clamp and attach a 3" elbow, aiming it into a (big) bucket. The trub is scraped out standing on the platform with the same paddle used to cut the grain bed (standard canoe/brew paddle). It flows easily- pellet hops are all we use. Un fortunatley, whole hops would require climbing in and mucking it out. OSHA does not like this practice. We also keep this separate from the grain. Our farmers say the pigs occasionally pick at it, it's an "aquired" taste. I think they mostly compost it; it's part of the deal of picking up the grain. Takes maybe 15 mins. tops to clean out kettle.

[Sir Brewsalot]

Is it hot in here, or is it just me?

Something just occurred to me:

Am I the only one here who hops in his kettle to scrub it out with a brush, a green scubbie at the end of the brew day? It's not exactly the glory part of the job, so I'd love to hear what everyone else does AFTER trub removal.

Helping get us off topic...
Scott

[gitchegumee]

I jumped the kettle (whole hops only) lifted and dumped buckets of spent hops into a trash can on the platform, then rinsed with a hose to the drain, I would CIP hot caustic sometimes for an hour before an acid rinse. Depends on the caustic. The last stuff I used was Ecolab 'Principal'. Worked great in fermenters, but had a hard time in the kettle.

[tarmadilo]

Am I the only one here who hops in his kettle to scrub it out with a brush, a green scubbie at the end of the brew day? It's not exactly the glory part of the job, so I'd love to hear what everyone else does AFTER trub removal.

Three of the seven brew kettles that I've brewed with had CIP sprayballs, but the other four required manual scrubbing. We didn't have anyone named Manuel, so I did it! Brewpub customers LOVE seeing the brewer crawl out of the top of the brew kettle, don't they?

Cheers, Tim

[pbutlert]

After the trub............

Yes, after it's rinsed I hop in and scrub the ring of protien/etc. off the sides, and scrub the heating jackets/floor. Also, hops pile up behind the dam due to the paddle size, and can only be removed by getting in and getting the hose on em' at the proper angle. Also, yes the customers do get a kick out of seeing "tank man-half man, half tank"!

[Michael Murphy]

Something just occurred to me:

Am I the only one here who hops in his kettle to scrub it out with a brush, a green scubbie at the end of the brew day? It's not exactly the glory part of the job, so I'd love to hear what everyone else does AFTER trub removal.

Helping get us off topic...
Scott

I wouldnt use a green scrubbie anywhere near brewery equipment, even if its the kettle, A brush for washing a car works fine with a caustic or acid solution... Usually the acid lifts the stuck on coating off the steam jackets.

Hops and protien on the sides and top are taken care of by the caustic CIP

I use ECOLAB's "CIP" Caustic its pretty good.

I will eventually rig up the return on my CIP to suck the trub on to the spent grains Its a strong pump so it will take it...

[Sir Brewsalot]

Hi Michael,
Do you have a concern about scratching up the stainless in the kettle, or is there something else? It's certainly not a polished surface like a fermenter's interior, and it is of course heat sanitized with every use.

Just wondering if I'm missing something.

Thanks,
S

[Moonlight]

Green scrubbies...it depends on how hard one scrubs. Yes, you can really make a mess with them, or you only scrub as gently as is necessary. You can feel the resistance when they are removing metal. New ones take more gentle treatment, used ones need more elbow. I use them inside a copper kettle and there is no doubt about how hard to scrub-it shows every scratch. Like sanding wood, always go with the grain of the metal and you will get the crap off without as much damage. I like to start with a white flexible plastic paint scraper for all the tough stuff-hop goo and heavy crud.

[Faustino Silva]

Trub in kettle

One suggestion I would have is a pressure washer, another is a trube pan on the bottom of your kettle. I empty the trub pan, finish cleaning kettle, and exit through the man hole. Save time expense and chemicals. Even if you would not care to get into your kettle pressure washers are a big time saver.

Cheers and Blessings
Faustino

[dick murton]

Going back to the trub in spent grains for cattle feed. Plenty of people do it, though they tend to use hop pellets of extract, not whole hops. A large proportion of the trub is actually protein, coagulated, and derived from malt in the first place.

I agree that if you are using lots of whole hops, then this might not go down too well with pigs and cattle though. Have you tried selling your spent whole leaf hops as domestic garden fertiliser ?


Cheers

[Sir Brewsalot]

Gotta tell you that I added a white plastic paint scraper to my kit of kettle cleaning tools, and I'm ready to toss the brush, and just finish up w/ the scrubbie.

Quite a bargain at $.69 too!

Thanks!
Scott

[oppigards]

As I was the first out in this thread that told I was sending the hop pellets / turb to the pig farm (I think they have boars), I must report that I have not heared of any pigs with the legs up towards the sky yet. No, the farmer have told me that both pigs and cows like the mix of spent grain / hop pellets / turb. When emptying the mash tun I transport it to a mobile stainless tank out side the brewhouse with a auger. The auger will mix it well so I do not think it is a problem. I know an other brewery which also send this mix to a pig farm and they told me that the pigs put the hops aside, how ever I think they use whole hops. One problem that might occur during the warm season is that the spent grain get sour before it is consumed by the cattles. A farmer and vet who used large quantities of spent grain for his cattles used formic acid to get the grain to keep fresh longer. I think it is the same kind of acid they use when producing ensilage.


Cheers
Bjorn Falkestrom