Covered boil and hot break

[tiredofbuyingbeer]

I've been looking into clarity issues with some of my beers. One possibility is that I'm not getting a strong enough boil at the start for a really vigorous hot break. I'm doing a full boil over my (powerful) gas burner on a stove. Back when I was doing partial boils, I had no clarity issues. I also had a much more vigorous boil. I still see bubbles on the surface now, but it's not quite what I would call a roiling boil.

There's not much I can do about the strength of my stovetop burner, and I can't brew outside. I do, however, get a much more vigorous boil when I cover the wort. I wonder if I can do this while the wort boils for 10 or 20 minutes to get a really good hot break before adding in hops and the like and brewing uncovered. Does this sound like it would work?

I know there's the potential DMS issue, but I'm planning on doing a full 60 minute uncovered boil afterwards. Should that be adequate to get rid of DMS?

 

[tiredofbuyingbeer]

I guess one alternative I had not thought of would be to get a heat stick. I'd rather see if I could alleviate this problem with covering the pot, though, before buying something else.

 

[z-bob]

I like the idea of a short covered boil (be careful so it doesn't boil over) and then uncover after the break.

Have you tried using Whirlfloc? Until I got my new heat stick I've never been able to get a strong boil with my stove, and clarity has not been much of a problem (I have other problems, which I'm working on )

 

[flars]

May not be the vigor of your boil that causes clarity issues with some of your beers. Check out the video in in Ray Found's blog on boil intensity and then the clarity of the two beers. One with an intense boil and the other with just a simmer.
http://brulosophy.com/2017/05/29/boil-vigor-weak-vs-strong-exbeeriment-results/

Are the beers with clarity issues wheat beers? Wheat beers should not be clear after conditioning. The wheat malts contribute to the characteristic hazy appearance.

Try some Irish moss near the end of the boil for your non wheat beers. Also check notes on time in primary for the beers which aren't clear compared to time in primary of beers with no clarity issues.

 

[tiredofbuyingbeer]

I do normally use whirfloc. Occasionally, I forget.

The cloudy beers aren't wheat beers. And, I've made beers that used a pound of two of wheat that weren't particularly hazy. They were partial mash, though, so I think that's part of the issue. Less break material.

The reason I think it's break material is that it appears to be chill haze. The beers don't get hazy until I put them in the fridge. I had one beer that maybe had protein haze, but I've done a protein rest since for high nitrogen malts. I'm pretty sure I'm getting decent starch conversion, because some of these were 90 minute mashes.

 

[tiredofbuyingbeer]

So I guess one issue is whether or not a more vigorous boil is necessary to get a sufficient hot break. The brulosophy experiment flars linked to might show that it isn't, although that guy isn't mostly talking about clarity in the piece.

The question I still have is that if I avail myself of a covered boil for awhile, will that prevent DMS from escaping? The wort will still have 40-60 minutes of as vigorous an uncovered boil as I can produce on my stove afterwards.

 

[morbster]

There are a few posts on here about a covered boil without causing DMS issues (I think they were posted by Martin B. in the brewing science section). I'll see if I can find the posts.

Edit: here is the link. The thread is actually about boiling off too much water, but covering the kettle is still one of the discussion points.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showpost.php?p=7961131

To summarize, you should be fine with partially covering your kettle to create a more vigorous boil.

 

[Nokie]

I've read about not covering because of off flavors. But if I'm doing a bigger volume boil on the stove I've covered my pot with no problems. I just let it go until it looks like it's about to start boiling. Then I cover it and leave it a little off so there's a gap and I can watch it. Once I get a good boil and my hot break I uncover it.
Like I said they say you shouldn't but I've never noticed anything.