Recirculating wort whilst cooling...

[Ceejay]

Maybe a question for (A)leman, since I saw this on his website (or anyone with any info on this).There's a write up of a blonde ale brewday where you mentioned "extended recirculation" of the wort after cooling. Is it simply a case of running it off and returning it to the boiler until it runs bright, or are you going further than that?

And when you say "whilst" cooling, how far into cooling are we talking? Near pitching temp, or way before that?

I seem to have missed this step in my first 2 brews, and seems like a vital step in the quest for crystal clear beer.

Cheers,

CJ. :

 

[Stone Cold]

Im not totally sure what extended recirculation is but the longer recirculation goes on the clearer the wort becomes. I have started doing something that i havnt seen anyone els talk about to get clear wort, i stumbled upon it by accident when i got called away from a brew day unexpectedly . wht i am doing at the moment is I do the mash and sparge as normal but into a vessel, i then leave it over night and all the gristy stuff from the grain drops to the bottom of the vessel, I then pour the now clear wort into the boiler leaving the layer of sandy black grist in the vessel, then i hop the wort and carry on as normal. has anyone els seen this method before? I now only need to condition the ale for about 1-2 days in second fermentation vessel and can have it in the barrel and being drunk in the bar in about 2 weeks from start to finish with the help of a tiny amount of finings.

 

[Aleman]

Maybe a question for (A)leman, since I saw this on his website

Basically I recirculate the wort from the bottom of the copper over the cooling coils, until I have reached pitching temperature. . . . Stirring while cooling has the same effect . . . but it's much cheaper, and with my method I trap a lot of the break in the hop bed.

 

[Ceejay]

Thanks, next brew I'll experiment with recirculating maybe half the brewlength using a jug, before running off into the FV :thumb:

 

[Stone Cold]

ah! sorry I see what you were talking about now.
is there anyone out there thats let the un-hoped wort drop clear before hoping?

 

[pjbiker]

I also recirculate slowly through the hops at the end of the boil after adding the aroma hops , using my pump. As I use a CFC between copper and FV, the cold break ends up in the FVs anyway. The reason I started doing this was when using 2 translucent FVs, I could see the second of the two collected was visibly clearer. I figured this was due to the hop bed forming a filter whilst I collected the first FV.

A warning. prior to fitting the pump, I tried recirculating into the boiler whilst also cooling with CFC by jug. The resulting cold break and disturbed hop bed blocked my hop stopper up, which was then made from 15mm copper with hack saw slits cut. So, if you try that, be gentle with the jugging or pumping so as to allow an undisturbed hop bed to form.

 

[Ceejay]

Ok, sounds like giving it a while for the hops to settle and compact down is the way forward for me then, with a careful recirculation just to get the wort running bright. Cheers :thumb: