Cold and Hot break?

I somewhat understand what they are but not completely. Could anyone give a detailed explanation (or link) about what they are. I've read many things about them, but still don't understand completely what they are or what they look like.

http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter7-2.html

Hot break.

http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter7-4.html

Cold break.

From the glossary:

Hot Break - Proteins that coagulate and fall out of solution during the wort boil.

Cold Break - Proteins that coagulate and fall out of solution when the wort is rapidly cooled prior to pitching the yeast.

Read, learn, love. HTB.com is probably your best reference to your questions.

Very simplified.



Hot break...
Makes the haze causing protein stick together

Cold break
Makes it fall out of suspension.

So, on that topic.. my last batch I didn't really see a hotbreak at all. As i added my dry malt, it did foam a good bit. So I'd add a little dry malt, stir like mad, add a lil more, etc. Once it was all added, and then added some syrup extract there was no foam at all for the rest of the boil. Any thoughts? Do some brews not have a hot break?

Extract brewing shouldn't see much of a hot break.
That's already occurred within the wort manufacturing process.

orfy said:

Extract brewing shouldn't see much of a hot break.
That's already occurred within the wort manufacturing process.

Click to expand...

Ahh!

Good to know then. I've plans to make the jump to all-grain. When I bought all my brewing supplies from a friend, he had like 3 jars of extract too. Gonna use all those up before messing with all grain too much.

TheFlatline said:

http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter7-2.html

Hot break.

http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter7-4.html

Cold break.

From the glossary:

Hot Break - Proteins that coagulate and fall out of solution during the wort boil.

Cold Break - Proteins that coagulate and fall out of solution when the wort is rapidly cooled prior to pitching the yeast.

Read, learn, love. HTB.com is probably your best reference to your questions.

Click to expand...

That's exactly what I was looking for, thanks.

orfy said:

Extract brewing shouldn't see much of a hot break.
That's already occurred within the wort manufacturing process.

Click to expand...

I got a massive hot break when I did my hefe extract.

Wheat changes everything I'm finding.

What's the difference between a wheat beer wort's hot break and a barley malt hot break? Shouldn't it be the same?

orfy said:

Extract brewing shouldn't see much of a hot break.
That's already occurred within the wort manufacturing process.

Click to expand...

I always see significant hot break when I brew with extract (which is all the time). I've heard several people say that extract has already gone through a boil during manufacture and doesn't need to be boiled long, yet my experience directly contradicts this. My understanding of the malt extract production process is that the wort is not boiled in the common sense, but rather at a low temperature under a vacuum, so it makes sense to me that it would still need to undergo a "traditional" boil in the kettle.

So, what am I missing?

DuffmanAK said:

Ahh!
Good to know then. I've plans to make the jump to all-grain. When I bought all my brewing supplies from a friend, he had like 3 jars of extract too. Gonna use all those up before messing with all grain too much.

Click to expand...

I would start AG, and leave the 3 jars of extract to adjust your SG while you get your process and efficiency figured out.