The "hot break" playing on my mind

[Ceejay]

The last two AG brews I've done were the first for quite a few months. I did a 60 and a 75 minute boil and both were significantly hoppy beers. One thing is really bugging me though; I don't Remember securing a really good hot break - one that looks disgusting...

It's worrying me more than anything else in my brewing, as I noticed a slight soapy off flavour in the first beer, that has actually got much better with a bit of age. The second brew, a couple of days ago hardly had any break material left over in the kettle and the wort transferred to the FV was pretty cloudy. I just don't know if I'm missing something and for some reason not getting a decent hot break. I'm running a 30L plastic boiler with a 3kw element, so I get a very vigorous boil.

Should I be boiling for 90 minutes as standard? Is there anything else that would affect hot break formation? Am I worrying about nothing?!

:wha:

 

[RobWalker]

How are you transferring to your boiler? Recirculating the wort a few mins before the end may be useful, although I'm not sure how it works...

 

[fermentall]

Hi,is the hop strainer intact(no holes etc apart from intended ones) & is it keeping enough trub & gunk in boiler whilst transferring wort.
Also are you giving plenty of time after boil for everything to settle whilst & after cooling before you transfer to fv,not teaching you to suck eggs but i can't really think of anything else. : ken.

 

[robsan77]

Protofloc or Irish moss?

 

[Ceejay]

Cheers guys, I imagine it will be something simple!

I cool over 30 mins with an immersion chiller, stirring a little while it cools. I then let it all settle for 30 mins or so then run the wort out to the FV through a hose via a tap with a copper hop strainer attached. I tested the tap/hop stopper pickup a while ago and I didn't detect any flaws, i.e it was picking up water from the strainer rather than some kind of gap between it and the tap. I might check it again with some food coloring just to be sure.

Here's a couple of pics of my boil/cool setup:

I notice in the 3rd pic that there's a lot of crud up the side of the kettle. is this where most of my hot break material is ending up?

Could stirring the wort whilst cooling contribute to break material going back into solution?

I use Irish Moss...

 

[PD]

Protofloc addition 10 mins before flame out is the only thing I can think of,besides a vigorous 60 min boil.
That's my system and I get loads of break material.
You mentioned your wort looked cloudy when you transferred into the fv... can you say if that was with break material getting pulled through < although I find that most of it is in fairly large lumps which does drop out in the fermenter.
I cool with an immersion chiller very rapidly and then leave the wort alone for an hour before draining into the fv.

 

[Ceejay]

Protofloc addition 10 mins before flame out is the only thing I can think of,besides a vigorous 60 min boil.
That's my system and I get loads of break material.
You mentioned your wort looked cloudy when you transferred into the fv... can you say if that was with break material getting pulled through < although I find that most of it is in fairly large lumps which does drop out in the fermenter.
I cool with an immersion chiller very rapidly and then leave the wort alone for an hour before draining into the fv.

Yes, I would say it's the finer cold break material being pulled through. I get a really good cold break, noticeable because it's a lot finer - kind of looks like the "bits" in "orange juice with bits". From what I've heard on TBN, this is due to a really vigorous boil and a decent cooling rate.

 

[PD]

try wrapping a hop sock ( muslin ) over your hop strainer ( tie it on with a bit of string ) along with the settled hops it should increase the filtering effect.

 

[31bb3]

Try transferring the wort off the break material the day after you have done the brew it will give a chance for the break material to settle out then pitch your yeast
Whoops sorry I mean run it out the boiler into an fv then wait a day the transfer into another

 

[Ceejay]

Nice one, cheers for the advice guys. I'd be a little wary about pitching the next day as I'm always quite keen to get the yeast pitched and minimise the risk of infection (I'm just a bit neurotic about sanitisation!). Still, it's got to be worth a try :hmm:

Going to try:

90 minute boil
Protofloc instead of IM
Hop Sock
Longer rest after cooling; maybe well over an hour
Minimise stirring during cooling

Here's hoping for a huge pile of disgusting brown goo in the kettle :thumb: