Cold Break

[brewersdroop]

Hi,
I have just bought a chiller and I'm not sure when to use it.

I boil my brew in a 19L pan on my cooker and a few smaller pans to make it as close as I can to 23L before topping up it up with water in the fermenting bin.

After the boil I strain the wart with a sieve into my fermenting bin.

Should I chill while in the boiler, even though I may have some liquid in other pans or should I chill once in the fermenting bin?

I'm worried if I do it in the bin then the proteins will stay in the brew and I'm worried if I do it in the pot I'm going to tip them back in when I sieve out the hops.

Any Help you can give would be great

 

[ni9e]

Hi I would cool in the boiler as adding the cooler in the last 15 mins of the boil will sterilise the cooler and as I have just found out if you pour the wort through one of http://www.craftbrewer.com.au/shop/details.asp?PID=698 these it will collect all the break material and all the other bits and leave you with a clear wort in the FV :thumb:

 

[Vossy1]

It's easier to sanitise the chiller in the boiler for the last x-mins of the boil, as ni9e mentions.
There are differnces in opinion with regards to carrying the cold break over to the fv.
Some say it does not affect the finished beer, and carrying the break material may actually be of benefit to yeast. Others say it can be tasted to the detriment of the beer.
Personally I've done/do both, and I haven't noticed a difference between the beers produced.

I would say that I have noticed a greater lag time in yeast activity when the yeast is pitched whilst filling the fv and carrying the break, v adding the yeast after the cold break has settled.
It may have something to do with the cold break dragging the pitched yeast to the bottom of the fv and covering it...though I'm sure a more experience brewer will be able to explain it properly.

 

[brewersdroop]

Thanks for the good advice. Im doing a beer now and I have just realised that I dont have any room in my boiler to at the cooler. I know a bit of a derrr moment. Anyway Im going to give the FV a go and let the material settle before I pitch. see how it goes

cheers