cold break

[Clint]

Hello all
Earlier I brewed my first partial mash with 2kg of maris otter 250g of crystal,1.5 kg lme and 370g of dextrose. Brewers friend predicted og 1046 I got 1042 so not too far away.
Right...my question. ..
My strike water was 72°c I mashed giving me 65°c....wrapped it up for an hour finishing temp was 63.5°c . I sparged with 82°c water. I used protafloc for the last 10 minutes and noticed the protein break. I cooled in an ice bath. Transferring I managed to tip most of the break material into the fv....have I ruined it? How can I avoid this in the future?

Cheers

Clint

 

[chub1]

Hello all
Earlier I brewed my first partial mash with 2kg of maris otter 250g of crystal,1.5 kg lme and 370g of dextrose. Brewers friend predicted og 1046 I got 1042 so not too far away.
Right...my question. ..
My strike water was 72°c I mashed giving me 65°c....wrapped it up for an hour finishing temp was 63.5°c . I sparged with 82°c water. I used protafloc for the last 10 minutes and noticed the protein break. I cooled in an ice bath. Transferring I managed to tip most of the break material into the fv....have I ruined it? How can I avoid this in the future?

Cheers

Clint

I have some voil that i drape over a large colander and strain through that. Having said that i only do small brews so it's pretty easy.
Voil is good as it is very closely woven.:thumb:

 

[MyQul]

No you havent ruined it. Having break material in the FV is no problem. It doesnt effect taste, or much of anything for that matter, afaik. :thumb:

 

[Robin54]

BUT what it will do is make you brew LOOK a lot bigger than it is. So for instance 10L will infact be closer to 9L when you come to bottling. I wouldn't worry about it at this stage and just master the processes required

 

[Clint]

Phew! Thanks all...it's festering now on the heat pad in the garage well wrapped al la dutto.....

 

[Gunge]

Not a problem at all. All my break material goes in the FV thanks to using a counter-flow chiller. It acts as a yeast nutrient but once the action is over it settles very readily. In fact, I'd say it was a good thing rather than something to worry about.

 

[DoctorMick]

Isn't 82c a little hot for sparging?

 

[Clint]

Well on reading my book ...yes.It was sat there for a while as I had a palaver with my sieve....so probably dropped a bit...

 

[DoctorMick]

Well on reading my book ...yes.It was sat there for a while as I had a palaver with my sieve....so probably dropped a bit...

I wouldn't worry too much, I accidentally knocked my sparge water heater to 100c as I was sparging last week and didn't realise. I'm pretty sure I ended up using some > 80c water and it seems alright.

 

[Clint]

I need to get organised! Thought I had it all sorted until sparge time...the rest went OK though. My recipe was based roughly on the single hop ales in Greg Hughes but I subbed the hops for a mix of citra,centennial and cascade..as that's what I had! I put it through the brew calculator and it matches American ipa except for abv but I was aiming lower on this anyway. Just checked...it's bubbling away nicely.

Cheers

Clint

 

[DoctorMick]

If you got as far as the sparge before it went a bit wrong on your first brew I'd say that was a success. :thumb:

 

[Robin54]

I need to get organised! Thought I had it all sorted until sparge time...the rest went OK though. My recipe was based roughly on the single hop ales in Greg Hughes but I subbed the hops for a mix of citra,centennial and cascade..as that's what I had! I put it through the brew calculator and it matches American ipa except for abv but I was aiming lower on this anyway. Just checked...it's bubbling away nicely.

Cheers

Clint

Knowing you Clint, I reckon that will turn out just fine and dandy. Please follow up and let us know how many litres you finally got to bottle, cos I will find that interesting

 

[Clint]

I hope so!
Anyway...back to the gunk....how is it normally avoided...ie not transferred to the fv?

Cheers

Clint

 

[Robin54]

I hope so!
Anyway...back to the gunk....how is it normally avoided...ie not transferred to the fv?

Cheers

Clint

I chuck it all in

 

[Gunge]

I chuck it all in

Me too. As stated on the previous page, it is a good thing, not something to avoid even though it goes against your instinct. Trust me, your beer will be better for it.

 

[Dutto]

After cooling, I swirl the wort around in the boiler (it brings the solids to the centre), let it settle, sieve the first few litres of wort and then let the boiler drain until I can see the junk heading for the outlet. (This usually happens with about one litre left in the boiler.)

I've had some pretty cloudy stuff in the FV and in these cases the trub doesn't look good enough to use for bread-making ... :whistle:

... but otherwise I haven't noticed any difference. :thumb:

 

[Brett74]

Not a problem at all. All my break material goes in the FV thanks to using a counter-flow chiller. It acts as a yeast nutrient but once the action is over it settles very readily. In fact, I'd say it was a good thing rather than something to worry about.

What he said, saved me some time Gunge, thanks.

 

[Clint]

Right...so what's happening when I watch the YouTube vids and people recirculate the wort in a gf type thingy or pour the wort back through the mash tun until it runs clear...or am I getting totally confused?...this could happen...

Cheers

Clint

 

[Gunge]

To confirm.... you're talking about the coagulated gunk which appears in the wort when the boiler is switched off? This does not get recirculated through the mash, but it matters not a jot if it ends up in the FV - it feeds the yeast and actually results in a better, clearer beer in my experience.

 

[Clint]

Yep the snotty stuff that appears like magic...