Yooper,
I am relatively new to the brewing process, done about 5 brews now. Each one has their own characteristics, of course, and I have also been wondering about clearing my beer as they often come out a little hazy. I have read a lot about "make sure you get a good hot/cold bread" but I don't really fully understand what that means. Could you maybe clarify (no pun intended) this term a little bit?
Thanks.
Sure. In order to get really clear beer, a "hot break" is important. Now, in extract brewing often you don't get much of a hot break, because the extract has already been processed. That's fine.
To give you an example, think of a boiling pot of spaghetti. If almost always seems to boil over for the first few minutes, but suddenly, the foam goes away. It reached the point of the "hot break" so the proteins coagulate and stop foaming up.
The wort will continue to foam until the protein clumps get heavy enough to sink back into the pot. You will see particles floating around in the wort. It may look like Egg Drop Soup. This is very common in AG and partial mash brewing, and a vital part of the process. You wait and add the hops after the hot break, because the hops will also cause some foaming. Much less after the hot break, though. After the hot break, the chance of boilovers is greatly reduced, even with a nice rolling boil.
Now, the cold break is sort of the same thing. Kettle finings like Whirlfloc and Irish moss really help this. This is composed of another group of proteins that need to be thermally shocked into precipitating out of the wort. Slow cooling will not affect them. That's why many of us (the no-chill brewers nonwithstanding) recommend getting the wort from boiling to pitching temp as quickly as possible. If you cool the wort fast, you'll notice that once it gets about 75 degrees, you'll get big "goobers" of coagulated proteins.
Cold break, or rather the lack of it, is the cause of Chill Haze. When a beer is chilled for drinking, these proteins partially precipitate forming a haze. The beer will appear clear at room temperature, but once chilled, those precipitates cause a cloudy appearing, which is called chill haze.
Getting a good hot break and cold break is the only "secret" I have. I don't use any finings (except Whirlfloc in the kettle) or filter, but still have crystal clear beer.
