removing hot and cold break from kettle

ive been reading john palmers "how to brew", and just finished reading the fermentation section, and he was talking about the hot and cold break left in the kettle after boiling, and cooling, and i realized that after boiling and cooling the wort, that there is really nothing left at the bottom of my kettle, and im wondering if im doing something wrong?

I am using a keggle, with a stainless steel valve, and a pickup tube to drain my wort into the fermenter.

Well, there would be something in the bottom of your kettle if you strained the wort going into the fermentor. I like my beers to be clear, so I strain everything out by setting a large SS strainer on top of my fermentor. It doubles as an aerator too.

It's not absolutely neccissary to strain it, it just helps you get a cleaner beer at the end.

You must be stirring a lot during the cooling. As the wort chills and gets close to pitching temp, give the stirring a 20 minute rest and you'll have a big mound of stuff in the bottom of the kettle.

Suthrncomfrt1884 said:

Well, there would be something in the bottom of your kettle if you strained the wort going into the fermentor. I like my beers to be clear, so I strain everything out by setting a large SS strainer on top of my fermentor. It doubles as an aerator too.

It's not absolutely neccissary to strain it, it just helps you get a cleaner beer at the end.

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Is your SS strainer really fine enough to filter out the break proteins?

Naked_Eskimo said:

Is your SS strainer really fine enough to filter out the break proteins?

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Not ALL of it, but most of it. I end up with very clear beers when they finally hit my glass.

I only VERY recently (2 batches?) started scooping out hot break, and still don't filter cold break at all. I simply pick up my kettle and vigorously pour everything into my fermentor. One note, I do use hop bags.

I have never had a clarity issue, which I attribute to my leaving every beer in the primary for at least 3 weeks. I recently made a Raisin d'Etre clone using a big grain bill, honey and raisins, and the beer is so crystal clear that I can read my computer screen through a pint. This was not one of the beers I scooped the hot break out of.

Filtering out hot/cold break is not necessary for clarity, but it certainly helps. If you aren't doing it, further steps can help clear the beer, such as a long primary or transferring to a secondary.

In homebrewing there are plenty of ways to arrive at the same result; you just have to decide which works best for your system, method, and preferences.

Suthrncomfrt1884 said:

Not ALL of it, but most of it. I end up with very clear beers when they finally hit my glass.

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Where did you get your strainer from?

That break material will settle in the bottom of your fermenter just as well as the bottom of your kettle. For ales, some break material is actually good for the health of your yeast.

I pour my beer through a kitchen strainer to get the hops out, but it doesn't really do much for the break material.

So Cheshire, you dont care about break in your primary?

Nope. And my beer comes out clear. The proteins that cause haze aren't in the break material. That's the whole point of cold break. The proteins clump up and then are heavy enough to sink. They're just going to sink with the trub in the fermenter. In the meantime, they provide nutrients for the yeast. Is the proteins that DON'T break that cause haze later. Those can be addressed by clarifying agents, cold crashing or using opaque glasswear to drink your beer with.

I do try to skim off some of my hot break when my wort first reaches a boil, though I don't sweat getting it all.

ChshreCat said:

Nope. And my beer comes out clear. The proteins that cause haze aren't in the break material. That's the whole point of cold break. The proteins clump up and then are heavy enough to sink. They're just going to sink with the trub in the fermenter. In the meantime, they provide nutrients for the yeast. Is the proteins that DON'T break that cause haze later. Those can be addressed by clarifying agents, cold crashing or using opaque glasswear to drink your beer with.

I do try to skim off some of my hot break when my wort first reaches a boil, though I don't sweat getting it all.

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+1. Haha! Opaque glassware... that's great!

I picked up my strainer from a kitchen supplies store in town. It's a double mesh 18" strainer with a wooden handle. I'm not sure what brand.

But, as ChshreCat pointed out, break material isn't a big deal as long as you chill your beer quickly. Lot's of people just pour their beer into the fermenter without straining and have no issues. I just strain because I don't like all the trub.

I was using a 5 gallon paint strainer to hold my hops in during the boil, but I still had a good deal of trub in the brew pot when I began to transfer, so I changed it up a bit. Last night was the second attmept at using the paint strainer bag in the primary to catch the trub (break material). When the transfer is complete, I just pull the strainer bag up out of the pot and allow it to drain. You have to swish the bag back and forth, but it really filters out quite a lot of the break material.

After straining, I dump the material out and rinse out the bag, sanitize it and put it away until next time.

Salute!