Hop steeping and whirlfloc

69Bronc said:

Bump to the top. Anybody have any input on this? I am doing my first all-grain this weekend and was planning on using Whirl-floc for the first time (haven't used it in my previous extract batches). However, in many of my recent extract batches, I have employed the hop-steeping technique, which I plan to use for this all-grain. So, do you think I should add the whirlfloc near the end of the steep instead of at 5 mins left in the boil?

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F250 said:

I'm holding a bottle of whirlfloc in my hand produced by LD Carlson. On their factory label it states 'add 1 tablet per 5-10 gallons within the last 15 min of boil'.

Rick

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SurlyBrew said:

Mine says that too, but I've heard and read plenty stating that this is wrong.

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69Bronc said:

Same here. I have read in several threads to do it at 5 mins left in the boil. I think I will try it near the end of the boil and see how it goes.


Thanks for the replies.

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SurlyBrew said:

Are you planning on use half or a whole? Like I mentioned, when switching to all grain, I've has issues using half a tablet. With half at 5 mins, I wasn't getting much cold break and I have been experiencing chill haze will cooling down bottles. I tried a whole tablet at 10 to see if that help with the chill haze. The cold break seemed to be much better with a whole tablet at 10. Try half at 5 and see how it works for you.

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SurlyBrew said:

I've read that you want to add the tablet with 5 mins left in boil, and not boil it for too long or it will be rendered useless. So that being said, if I were to add it with 5 mins left in the boil and then do a 30 min hop steep, would this be the same as boiling it too long or is letting it steep before cooling different? Should I add it towards the end of the steep? Anybody know, thanks.

Midwest supplies:
Adding a whole tablet won't really gain you anything), and add it with 5 minutes remaining in the boil. Yes, 5 minutes is correct. According to the manufacturer, if Whirlfloc is in the boil for any longer than 10 minutes, the active ingredients become denatured and therefore will not do their job.

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jakenbacon said:

I think doing a hop steep for 30 minutes after a boil would imply that you are not cooling this rapidly after boil? If so then that certainly won't help with clarity. As for the whirlfloc I have no idea, but may be useless based on the fact that you didn't cool that wort quickly which as far as I know leads to haze regardless? Just a thought tho....

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69Bronc said:

Well, I tried the full whirlfloc at 5 mins, followed by the 30 min hop steep. It didn't seem like the whirlfloc really did anything - actually seemed to make the coagulation of stuff worse. I did my normal stirring of the cool wort to try and whirlpool the sediment into a cone, but there wasn't much left in the center after pulling the brew out like there normally is.

The beer turned out pretty clear nonetheless after cold crashing and cold time in the kegerator!

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