Hot Break Blues

I've just boiled up my second recipe batch, and English Mild. I have a question about this mysterious hot break....I know it is to do with proteins precipitating out of the wort, but how do you know it has happened? What exactly does it look like? My boil was similar to my first LME boil as reported in a previous thread, in that it did not foam as much as expected. I added the hops right at the beginning before the boil began, would this account for an apparent lack of hot break (not that I know what to look for!)

I'm totally confused with this hot break, it's giving me the blues....oh lordy, I got the hot break blues......

Just as the wort is coming to a boil it will begin to foam up...maybe a little, maybe a lot. As it comes to a rolling boil, the foam will quickly dissipate. That's the hot break.

Think of the sea on a windy day and the foam/scum that rides on top of the waves. That's kinda what hot break looks like.

I hope you're not talking about the coast around the UK, cos then my wort's in trouble! That'll mean the hot break contains "brown lumpy waste matter", plastic bottles, used contraceptives....

BlightyBrewer said:

used contraceptives

Click to expand...

Just make sure they're properly sanitized and you should be OK.