Got a brew still under active fermentation, prevented from going higher than 68 due to the awesome SS Brewtech FTSs system, but I wonder about when to do the first trub dump. In my Better Bottle setup, I'd let a beer sit in primary no shorter/no longer than 2 weeks then transfer to secondary for dry hopping. I filter hop debris out when I go to primary and I did this for the conical too. When I dry hop, should I do a trub dump first or go ahead and dry hop and when that is over do the final trub dump? If I dump after dry hopping, then it seems to be I should keg the beer from the dump valve and not the upper valve.
I Dump after primary is complete and then add the dry hops. Just make sure fermentation is complete. Do not keg from the dump valve; there will be more yeast/sediment there after sitting for a while. You have separate valves for a reason, use them. Also, I purge/pressurize my conical whilst dumping sediment so oxygen can never get in; same thing when dry hopping. Especially for heavily hopped beers. I also put my dry hops in muslin bags place them in a gallon zip bag and purge with Co2 to help remove oxygen in the hop bag/hops before adding. Some people will just dry hop without dumping and I can't find anything wrong when tasting their beers. So you can do it either way. For me personally, I like to remove the yeast/sediment when primary is over, my beers are clearer this way and if I need to keep it in the conical for a long period of time I am not worried about potential Yeast autolysis. Conicals are great aren't they? How are you liking your new set up?
As for the setup, so far, so good. The temp control module is what I'm really liking: an internal temp probe with an internal heat exchanger. It's not had to kick on too much since I've been keeping the house a little cooler, but it has and if your water in your cooler is nice and chilled, it takes the wort temps down quickly. I hear you on transferring from the dump valve, I just didn't want to waste too much beer. I wonder that if I just dropped in the dry hops from the airlock hole in the lid if they would drop out and settle? I'll use pellet hops. That way I wouldn't have to use a hop bag at all. Just make another quick trub dump after dry hopping is over, then keg.
You can also wait a few hours after chilling and dump. For a lager I did last week I let it sit at 45F for 12 hours or so and dumped, then added O2 and pitched.
