Foam removal on boil?

I'm boiling wort for my 3rd batch right now, and I think I remember reading somewhere that you can skim the foam off the wort during the boil to remove protein which adds to clarity. Is this true? I'm doing a scottish ale...I know some varieties (stouts) benefit from the protein.

I would think that foam would hold a lot of hops debris. I would leave it alone if I were you. this is the first I've ever heard of it.

Leave it. Foam is good for you.

You can skim the foam from boiling honey...

I ended up skimming after a 10 minute boil then added hops. The first homebrew I was a part of came out very yeasty and cloudy, so I keep looking for easy beer clarification techniques now that I'm flying solo... even though I forgot my Irish moss on this brew. When I took my OG I let it sit for 10-15 minutes before reading it, and when I did there was some white sediment in the bottom , I`m guessing was malt protein? I also noticed a lot of cloudy chunks rolling in my wort before I actually hit boiling (protein again?)

Edit: Why skim from honey?

blue800 said:

Edit: Why skim from honey?

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cause it has bee parts

blue800, what you see is hotbreak. It's formed during the boil and it's proteins coming out of solution and it's normal. Don't skim the foam, it's useless. Unless you like busywork.

And don't boil honey! It boils off all the aroma so you basically get generic sugary honey flavored product.

i'm in agreement with everyone else that says 'don't skim'. but i'd like to add that the foam contains quite a bit of sugars (taste it next time you brew) and throwing it away will decrease your wort's gravity and your brew-house efficiency - we don't want that...

I'm betting that you are misremembering what you read and that the foam that was being skimmed was the krausen from the fermentation. Which I wouldn't recommend skimming either but some people do.

I'm a skimmer. Always have been.

Skimmed my last batch, I was in the kitchen and was hawking the boil so as to avoid an eruption. I feel skimming removes the foam cap which can make for a surprise boilover, outside I can just grab the hose, but in the house, not fun!

Edcculus said:

cause it has bee parts

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...and wax...

blue800 said:

...The first homebrew I was a part of came out very yeasty and cloudy, so I keep looking for easy beer clarification techniques now that I'm flying solo...

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That's most likely because you didn't let it sit and clear long enough.

Even a Weizen will clear in a couple of weeks. I even secondary my Hefe Weizens to remove most of the yeat in suspension. I add some of the yeast back into the bottling bucket/keg during racking.

BierMuncher said:

I'm a skimmer. Always have been.

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yup me too. I quit after the first hop addition.
JJ

homebrewer_99 said:

That's most likely because you didn't let it sit and clear long enough.

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I won't say how long my first solo has been in bottles and how many I've already had. Its crystal clear though (a no boil Baron`s Pale Ale kit).

I hope it's OK to wake up an old thread. Could skimming affect the beer's head retention? I'm basing this on very primitive logic, I'll admit: the boil's foam sort of looks like beer head, and so, I'm imagining, taking away one could diminish the other.

I don't skim,since it dies down & dissapears anyway. Dito with krausen. I do use super moss @ 10 minutes left in the boil. 1/4tsp does the trick. And I still get great head! :rockin:

messersc said:

I hope it's OK to wake up an old thread. Could skimming affect the beer's head retention? I'm basing this on very primitive logic, I'll admit: the boil's foam sort of looks like beer head, and so, I'm imagining, taking away one could diminish the other.

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I always have rock solid head, lasting retention and lacing that chronicles every sip taken.

I skim after the hot break. Then add hops, and no more skimming after that.

Always bottle condition. No issues with head typically.