Underwhelming Hot Break

[RPG27]

I've done about 7 or 8 all grain brews so far. They've all been vienna lagers/marzens and 3 gallon or less batches. Most of the malt I use is some combo of german vienna and german light munich. I follow brewers friend recipe calculators to a T and use a converted Rubbermaid container for my mash tun. I feel like I do everything pretty close to the norm.

I've seen a lot of YouTube videos where brewers get these monstrous hot breaks where the break almost overflows the kettle. Just real serious churning and growing. Ive NEVER experienced this one time. I get a little foam growth and then the wort breaks through. I know it's probably not a total necessity to have a real showy break, but I feel like I should have seen it at least once. What's going on?

 

[alane1]

Do you monitor wort ph? sounds like it might be too low or too high, this will make it harder for the proteins to coagulate and form a good break.

 

[RPG27]

No I haven't been checking pH. My roommate (uses the same water) routinely gets good breaks but he brews mostly porters and stouts. What are the affects of not having a strong break?

 

[alane1]

The stouts and porters are going to be more acidic because of the darker malts. Your ph is too high then. The effects of a high ph include chill haze, increased tannins and a harsher bitterness extracted from hops as well as a poor break.

 

[RPG27]

Thank you, I guess I'll have to look into getting some tablets to level out the pH. I live in pennsylvania, I figured my water would be more acidic than anything.

 

[alane1]

Here's a link with some good info http://beerandwinejournal.com/proper-boil-ph/

 

[RPG27]

Hmm, I'm just not sure. I don't want to give you the wrong idea. I absolutely have a nice solid quarter inch of foam in the brew kettle, it just never grows and pulses like an "it's alive!" type of moment. It always looks like it could pop at any second, but then the wort will just break through and I'll begin the 60 minute boil.

I guess I'm just looking for one of those "oh sh**, it's going to boil over" breaks and I never seem to get one.

PS: my local water quality report has my pH range in the upper 6 to low 7 range on average.

 

[LayerUp]

I've seen a lot of YouTube videos where brewers get these monstrous hot breaks where the break almost overflows the kettle. Just real serious churning and growing. Ive NEVER experienced this one time. I get a little foam growth and then the wort breaks through.

This is really interesting, I've brewed 60+ all grain batches, and nearly every time I've brewed them, i've had a rather monstrous hot break to deal with. However, the last two batches of beer that I've made have had essentially no hot break. The only difference between these last two beers and the other 60 is the they have been predominantly munich malt based. The first was a SMaSH with munich and centennial, and right now I'm boiling a munich malt barleywine that had basically no hot break to speak of.

Perhaps the reason your break has been lacking is your malt choice? Are you using vienna and munich predominantly as your base malt? If so, try brewing something that is 2-row based and see if that makes a difference.

After batch 30 or so, I started working on my water quality to ensure I was in proper pH for mash and boil. So I can assure you it's not solely due to pH issues. Anyone else care to chime in?

 

[normonster]

There's a great article about this on morebeer. There isn't as much protein in that malt as some and the lighter grain bill means even less. Brew a 2-row based IPA and you'll see a way bigger hot break for sure (scoop that crap out, BTW).

 

[BobBailey]

I don't worry much about the amount of initial foam as I do seeing the wort look like a thin gruel after 15 minutes or so. I believe the amount of foam is relative to the amount of proteins present, which can vary with the variety of grain and even the maltster. As the proteins begin to coagulate the particles in the wort become larger and more visible. Some say it is more like egg drop soup. If you maintain a decent rolling boil you shouldn't have a problem.

Hops make a difference too. I usually wait until the initial foam subsides before adding hops unless it's a very small amount. First wort hopping will often reduce the amount of foam too. There are several variables that affect the initial foam, so don't use that as a gauge.

 

[Eucrid]

Thank you, I guess I'll have to look into getting some tablets to level out the pH. I live in pennsylvania, I figured my water would be more acidic than anything.

Read the water chemistry primer here https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f128/brewing-water-chemistry-primer-198460/

I'd problems with high PH and this sorted them right out in a very easily accessible way.

 

[matt2778]

Fwiw I've always had a huge hot break with my beers until I did an amber with marris otter for the base malt, which resulted in a very weak hot break. If since noted that batches with large amounts of Munich and Vienna don't seem to produce as much break as those that are predominately 2 row.