Fermentation Rate vs. Trub & Hop Matter?

[curtisfishes]

Does the amount of trub and hop material that you transfer to the fermentor have an effect on the rate of fermentation? For the last several years I have been tilting my boil kettle and dumping every last drop of wort into my fermentor before pitching the yeast. For my last batch of ale beer I made a kettle diverter like this:

http://morebeer.com/view_product/10072//Kettle_Diverter_for_Boil_Kettle

I whirlpooled with my IC and then let it sit for 30 minutes to settle. The wort went into the fermentor very clean. I pitched a 1700 ml starter of Wyeast 1056 into 6 gal of 1.060 wort at 62 degrees. After 36 hours I let it free rise up to 65 degrees and held it for 48 hours. Fermentation started to slow significantly so I started bumping the temp up and it finished fermenting in about 4.5 days. I didn't believe it so I pulled a sample and sure enough 1.010. I keep good records and have good digital fermentation temperature control.

I have never had a previous ale beer (with all the contents of the boil kettle) finish fermenting in less than 7 days and it usually takes 10 days.

Does anybody know if the clarity of the wort going into the fermentor has an effect on fermentation rate?

-Curtis

[animaldoc]

I don't think the trub has a detrimental effect on fermentation rate from my non-scientific observations. I've had Papazian-style partial boil beers ferment in 4 days and all grain whirlpool relatively trub free beers take 10.

Yeast health is the most important factor, fermentation temp second, and strain third.

Have your previous fermentations all been as thoroughly process controlled as your most recent? 1700ml starter gives you a nice large pitch of yeast -- if you haven't done this on your previous batches, it's the most likely reason you fermented so well. All temperature controlled with the ramp up later in the process? That will keep the fermentation chugging to completion.

If the ONLY difference was presence/absence of trub, then yes maybe it is a factor in your hands. Almost all of the other variables that may not have been controlled would be a more likely reason IMO.

[Quin]

Yeast health is the most important factor

+1000 It was probably a really healthy pitch.

[curtisfishes]

animaldoc and Quin

Thanks for the replies. I have followed the exact same processes (starter, oxygen level, fermentation temp control) on many previous batches, and none of them fermented as fast as this one. The differences in line with what you are suggesting are 1) I got very fresh yeast packs (manufacture date about 1 week old) and I pitched my starter after 24 hours when it was at high krausen. But it seems that I have had very fresh yeast packs before. But maybe I didn't have all the factors lined up as well as I did on this batch.

If it is that simple, then great. I guess I was thinking that the trub and hop material might make yeast less efficient at doing their job.

Thanks again for the input.

-Curtis