dumping clean cold water into fermentor

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Ol' Grog

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I've read about this so much that I'm am officially confused, which doesn't take much according to my wife. However, from what I've read, is that you want to seperate the cold break from going into the fermenter. I've seen where some people just put clean ice cold water into the primary and then dump the piping hot wort right into it. Then after it is below 80 or so, pitch the yeast. In that methodology, you don't remove the cold break. Isn't that a crucial step? Don't you have to remove the cold break? That would just be too easy if you don't have remove it. The method I've used is bring the wort down to about 180 or so, by then you can see the cold break, use a santized steel strainer, pour that wort into the fermenter, fill to 5 gallon mark with clean iced water, and that gets the temperature down to just about pitching temperatures. Anyway, I'm really curious about the "don't remove cold break" fermentation method.
 
I think you're talking about the hot break, from what I understand the cold break does not occur until you start cooling the wort, hence the desire to get it cool quickly as that will induce the cold break.

It's true you want to keep as much of the hot and cold breaks out as possible, what I do is cool the wort and then poor it through a strainer into the fermentor and top off. I use an ice bath to cool the wort although I'm thinking of moving to an infusion chiller soon.
 
I haven't read anything to suggest the hot or cold break (precipitated proteins) need to be removed at all. The key is getting them to precipitate out of solution so that they end up in the mass of trub. That way, when you do rack to secondary, they are left behind. I'm just a beginner, so I could be wrong. I've read howtobrew.com many times.

Bobby
 
If you carefully peek into the chilled brew pot you may notice the sediment on the bottom. This is the cold break and we want to keep this out of the fermenter. Pick up the brew pot with pot holders and carefully pour the wort into the fermenter. Allow the wort to splash and foam. Stop pouring when the sediment reaches the rim of the brew pot. If a little sediment finds its way into the fermenter, don’t be concerned. It will not hurt anything and the yeast likes a little any way. Top off the fermenter with additional water. You should now have about 5.5 gallons of wort. This will provide for any losses later in the brewing process. Cold tap water is fine for topping off. Place the cover over the fermenter but do not seal it yet. Carefully pick up the fermenter and place it on the counter. Use a paper towel to wipe off any water or spilled wort from the outside. Allow the temperature to register on the stick-on thermometer.

Got that from:
http://www.leeners.com/breweryx.html#chilling
 
Ok, I'll buy that. It seems that some sources suggest it matters, while others are more passive on it. The guy from BYO suggests removing particulates any chance you get in the process.

Some suggest whirpooling your cooled wort in the pot prior to racking to the primary, but my current process involves pouring directly out of the brewpot to aerate.

Bobby
 
The size of Hot and Cold break particles are only 10-50 microns. You are not going to strain them out.

It is not necessary to try to remove all of the hot and cold break. The amino acids are great nutrients for the yeast.

The only bad thing that can happen by not removing the Hot and Cold Break particles is that small proteins could cause you to have a cloudy beer. But taste is not going to be affected.

Besides....we use whirlfloc or irish moss or geletin or chillproff to get rid of haze. If the proteins even attempt to cause problems these agents will make the proteins settle out of suspension.



So.......It is good to cool your wort in the brew pot so that you can look at the bottom to see if there is a lot of break material in the bottom. If there is alot then you should stir the pot until you get a good whirlpool. Then let the pot sit until the wort quits twirling. The sediment will settle out in the center of the pot. Now you can siphon from the side of the brewpot away from the sediment that you want to leave behind. You will never be able to leave all of the sediment behind so don't sweat it.......Just leave behind the majority.

If you do not take any precautions to remove the brewpot sediment you will probably never have any problems. Once the protein and tannins "Break" in the Hot and Cold Break then they will usually settle to the bottom of the fermenter and not cause problems. Your whirlfloc or irish moss will fix the problem if one tries to arise.
 
By your method I'm assuming you are an extract brewer. If that is the case, you won't have much of a problem with break material anyways. Extracts have already been boiled and cooled, leaving fewer proteins and other stuff. This is more of an issue for all-grain brewers.
 
All grain is different because you have much more break material. Getting rid of it is the mostly the same process either way. You can skim the brew pot if you are making an all grain batch......the Hot Break usually makes big sheets that can be skimmed easily.
 
dougjones31 said:
All grain is different because you have much more break material. Getting rid of it is the mostly the same process either way. You can skim the brew pot if you are making an all grain batch......the Hot Break usually makes big sheets that can be skimmed easily.

Why? Leave it alone, IMHO.
 
Bobby_M said:
Some suggest whirpooling your cooled wort in the pot prior to racking to the primary, but my current process involves pouring directly out of the brewpot to aerate. Bobby

Right now, that's exactly how I do it. That's also another reason why I opted for the 6.5 plastic bucket fermenter instead of the carboy. I feel that you get a better aeration doing it that way. But, do you want to dump all that stuff in there, into the fermenter? That's what I'm trying to figure out. That same website reads that if you dump ice cold water into the wort below 180F, you'll prevent that cardboard taste. I didn't pay enough attention to the thermometer when the wort went into cold break, but I would think it would be around that temperature. Strain the big stuff while dumping into the fermenter, and then fill up with ice cold H2O. That should bring the temperature down close to pitching temps, don't you think? 2.5 gallons of 180 or less and then dump 2.5 gallons of 38F water into it.
 
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