Insufficient hot break?

[foxtrot]

Here's something I've never encountered after 15 successful AG batches. I brewed a Belgian Strong as follows:

9 lbs. Belgian Pils
1 lb. Vienna
0.5 lb. CaraVienna
0.5 lb Aromatic
1.3 lb. Turbinado sugar

Mashed at 151F for 1 hr.
Fly sparged 1 hr. as usual; clear wort into boiler.
Boiled 90 min. with 60, 30, 15 min, 5 min pellet additions. Turbinado went in at 30 min. using a hop bag.
Chilled with immersion coil for 30min to 62F.
Vortexed and let rest for 30 min.

Here's the kicker, normally my cooled wort is clear (except for a Wit I brewed before), but this thing was completely cloudy! Being impatient, I transfered the cloudy mess anyway and pitched the WL Abbey starter. Fermentation was good albeit a very thick, gummy layer of krausen I'll need to skim eventually.

So I'm wondering what went wrong. The trub in the boiler was very green with little appearance of break material (not to much tan from protein). Here are a few things I'm thinking:

1) I've never used Belgian Pils before (it was from Kastle Malting), so I think maybe I should have done a protein rest? My efficiency was good.
2) I was busy doing other things during the boil and had noticed the "rolling boil" had subsided a few times, so maybe I did not get a strong enough hot break?

I'm hoping the brew turns out OK, although I'm afraid it will suffer from chill haze and may be a tad stringent. Any ideas on this problem??

 

[Bigsnake]

Some of the wort I've had has been relatively cloudy. I wouldn't worry about it now at all. Let it go through primary and see how it's doing. If it's still really cloudy, then I'd consider racking to secondary and using some gelatin and possibly crash chilling it before bottling. I did that to my Belgian and it was a beautiful color as I racked it into the bottling bucket.

 

[foxtrot]

Thanks, snake. I'll be checking the FG on Sunday, day 14 and go from there.

There is one other thing I changed from my normal routine, I did not add supermoss during the boil in hopes of improving my head retention, which has been less than great on some of my beers. Could that have caused such a dramatic shift in the amount of suspended protein in the cooled wort?

 

[Yooper]

Thanks, snake. I'll be checking the FG on Sunday, day 14 and go from there.

There is one other thing I changed from my normal routine, I did not add supermoss during the boil in hopes of improving my head retention, which has been less than great on some of my beers. Could that have caused such a dramatic shift in the amount of suspended protein in the cooled wort?

Yep, not using Irish moss or whirlfloc in the boil makes a huge difference in clarity and hot and cold break.

I'm assuming you chilled the wort quickly, so that you should have had a good cold break, too.

(I boil worts with pilsner malt for 90 minutes, but I still always use whirlfloc.)

 

[foxtrot]

Thanks fellow Michigander (I grew up in Grand Rapids). Yeah, I always do a 90 minute boil 'cause I've got my evaporation rate dialed in pretty good. Chilling usually takes no more than 30 minutes unless I'm doing a lager.

So I guess it's back to using the moss for me! Thats one more questionable variable put to bed...

 

[thedude123]

What does Turbinado and Vortexed mean?

 

[Champurrado]

Hmmm, my first AG is in the primary now and after 5 days still looks pretty much like unfiltered apple cider. I boiled on the stove for 60 minutes and didn't get a terriffic boil. I did not use IM or any other clearer. Next batch will be boiled on a bayou classic outdoors with the jets turned up to stun.

I'm just going to let this batch set for another two weeks and monitor.

 

[foxtrot]

Turbinado is a type of unrefined sugar; its darker and supposed to be more flavorful vs. table sugar. Was recommended in "Radical Brewing", so I'm giving it a try for the first time. Can be found in baker's isle in supermarket. I put the sugar in the hop bag in the boil cause the crystals are larger than table suger. No scorching!

Vortexing is swirling your cooled-down wort with a spoon like mad until you create a whirlpool or 'vortex' . This action will force the trub into a cone in the middle of your brewpot so you can siphon down to the bottom of your pot while leaving the trub in the middle for maximum wort yeild. Make sure the vortex is nice and even using consistent circular motion with your spoon, otherwise sloshing will interfer with making that compact trub cone. Rest for 30 minutes and hope your wort is clear, unlike my last batch!