What's a hot break?

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When referring to the boil..what is a hot break?

Protein clumps.

It's when the boil is going along just fine then suddenly all hell breaks loose and foam spills over the top.

The foam is caused by proteins in the wort that coagulate due to the rolling action of the boil
 
Regardless of what type of brewing you do (extract vs. All Grain) it is what occurs when you have finished collecting the extract (either from laturering in all grain or adding LME of DME) and the brewer is approaching and begining the boil. Simply, it is when the wort begins to foam like crazy and homebrewers usually scramble to grab the oven mits and move the pot off of the heat to avoid a boil over.

Don't quote me on this but I believe it has something to do with proteins coagulating in the wort and producing the foam.

To combat this, you can use a product like FermCap-S or I usually toss a few hops in to get the oils in the hops into the wort. Sometimes I will add a drop of Olive Oil or Vegitable Oil to help break up or prevent the foaming
 
Hot break is the foam that forms and rises right before the wort boils. Once it is boiling it will look like clumps.
 
I watched some home brewing videos (Brew's How To's) and found that when they hit hot break and the foam began to appear they used a sieve to skim it away. I have used this in my last few batches and found it help prevent a boil over, though I am not sure if this is consider good practice.

Can anyone give their 2 cents?
 
I watched some home brewing videos (Brew's How To's) and found that when they hit hot break and the foam began to appear they used a sieve to skim it away. I have used this in my last few batches and found it help prevent a boil over, though I am not sure if this is consider good practice.

Can anyone give their 2 cents?

1 spray bottle of Star San and 2-4 squirts on a mist setting and the break goes right down into the boil...
 
I have done something similar in the past as well, keeping a tray of ice cubes available during the first 30 minutes of the boil.

If I remember correctly the guy in the video said that it was better to remove the 'protien scum' from the wort. I am just curious if this is actually the better for the beer, so if its better to leave this coagulated protiens in the wort.
 
Or even just good old fashioned H2O.

Yea, just use water. A few sprays and the foam subsides considerably. If it comes back up, hit it again.

Also, the protein clumps will eventually settle in the fermenter to form trub (along with a variety of other things) so there's no need to remove them. With a good cold break and/or finings, proper bottling transfer, and a solid conditioning process it won't effect the beer at all.
 
This is hot break that looks surprisingly like meringue. On most beers, it's not so bright white and dense. This batch had about 14% Graham (whole wheat) flour in the mash.
 
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I was brewing the other day and when my wort started to boil I add my 60 min addition of hops. Another Brewer was watching me and told me that I shouldn't have added them till after the hot break.
I've never not added my hops at very beginning of the boil...
don't mean to hijack this thread but was wondering others thoughts on this..
 
Better off waiting until after the hot break to start pitching hops, because the hops can actually contribute to the foaming prior to the break occurring, increasing chances of a boil over.
 
usfmikeb said:
Better off waiting until after the hot break to start pitching hops, because the hops can actually contribute to the foaming prior to the break occurring, increasing chances of a boil over.

+1 and if you do boil over you won't lose your hops.
 
In extract brewing the break often is a lot less dynamic than with allgrain brewing, since most of the break happens at the maltser's when they are boiling the wort to make the extract.

Wait til you brew an allgrain batch using pilsner malt, it looks just like egg drop soup. And it's perfectly normal.

HotBreakFormation.jpg
 
So other than increasing the chance of a boil over is there any other reason to wait till after the hot break..I don't suspect it can or will change the flavor or am I wrong
 
Germelli1 said:
To combat this, you can use a product like FermCap-S or I usually toss a few hops in to get the oils in the hops into the wort. Sometimes I will add a drop of Olive Oil or Vegitable Oil to help break up or prevent the foaming

Does FermCap really work for the entire boil?
 
So other than increasing the chance of a boil over is there any other reason to wait till after the hot break..I don't suspect it can or will change the flavor or am I wrong

I typically try to skim foam off the top of the kettle before the hot break. If you do this after pitching hops, it could change the flavor. Other than that, I'm not aware of anything detrimental, but I'm at the beginning stage of being an intermediate brewer, and have much to learn.
 
I boil up to 6.5 gallons in a 7 gallon pot, and to prevent boil over I simply put a fan at the slightly heigher than the top of the pot pointed down, about 2 feet away, and it prevents the boilover every time. =D
 
I use fermcap and that stuff really works...I've done 20+ AG brews and fortunately have had only 1 boil over ..so I'm still confused about adding hops before the hot break if a boil over is the only concern
 
So what is a GOOD hot break? Is it a hot break that doesn't boil over? Or is it no protein coagulation at all?
 
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