did my first AG on saturday. it went fairly smoothly, not very good efficiency, but that's a different post. i cooled my wort through the hybrid chiller i built, which works extremely well but takes a fairly long time. the wort basically cools to the temperature of the ice bath, so the first bit of wort coming out is as cold as 35F, and at the end it's up in the 80s, but it all evens out to great pitching temps. my problem is the cold break material i get. i had a full 2" of break in the bottom of a 6.5g carboy. none of that is hot break either because i have a bazooka screen in the kettle filtering all that. i know from searching and reading what i can find that cold break is beneficial for yeast health but im concerned that too much might cause a problem. anyone have any guidance for this? at a minimum that much break in the fermenter is taking up space that should have wort in it. i was thinking about fashioning a bazooka screen like filter for the cold break. would this be something that would be worth my time? no filter can get ALL the cold break, so im thinking if i get most of it to increase my batch size back to where it should be then enough will get through to benefit the yeasties.
thanks for the help boys and girls!
thanks for the help boys and girls!