Timing from the Hot Break

I'm reading the John Palmers' book and he recommends holding off on timing your boil and the first hop addition until after the hot break. Does anyone else vouch for this idea?

Also, does the hot break occur when the proteins appear or when they drop out and disappear?

This is a good question which I'd like to hear peoples thoughts on as well.

I thought the hot break happened just before the wort started to boil. That is why you get that layer of scum floating on the surface. Once the boil starts, the break material gets rolled back into the wort.

I don't add hops until after I have skimmed off the break material. Otherwise, I'd be skimming off the the hops and that seems rather counter-productive.

I wait for the hot break to occur and for the foam to subside before adding any hops. This is mostly to prevent boil-overs...

To answer your question, since I just realized I never did haha: the hot break occurs when the protein globs appear on the surface of the wort.

Also, I've never heard of skimming the surface of the wort... I always just wait for the foam to subside before adding any hops. Does anyone else "skim" the surface? This is new to me...

I sometimes skim the surface.

cfonnes said:

I sometimes skim the surface.

Click to expand...

Is this merely to remove foam, or is there another benefactor?

I've read, but not tried, that as the break happens you can kill the heat for a bit. The break continues to happen. Then just reapply the heat. Cuts down on boil over but I have a large enough pot and stand by with a spray bottle. Worked so far.....

I always skim the hot break, and then start my timer and add the bittering hops.

nefarious_1_ said:

Is this merely to remove foam, or is there another benefactor?

Click to expand...

A clone recipe that I made had skimming in the instructions. I thought that it may help with clarity of final product.

If you boil for about 10 min the foam will eventually dissipate into the wort, then you can add your bitter hops and start your timer.

I am not sure if this makes any significant difference because I haven't tasted much difference in batches by adding hops right as the boil starts or after 10 min.

However, since I am not that experianced yet, I am sure there is a good solid reason to wait before adding bitter hops, so I wait 10 min.

TripHops...
:rockin: