Whirlpool Hopping and Cold Break

[eagle23]

Hey all,

The past couple brews I've done I have suffered from a lack of a decent cold break due to issues with chillers. I'm brewing this weekend and I have a question regarding my plan to chill my wort.

I'm making an IPA and want to do a 30 min whirlpool hop at 165 before chilling the wort down to 62. I understand that cold break occurs during rapid cooling of the wort, but does it just happen when the wort is cooled quickly, or if it begins at a certain temp and then is completed at another temp and if so what are those temps.

After the boil, I want to use an immersion chiller to cool the wort to 165 and add the whirlpool hops for half an hour, then continue using the coil chiller to drop the temp through the cold break, and let the cold break settle. I also have a plate chiller that I can use to bring the wort down to pitching temp as it moves to the fermenter.

Does that seem like a solid plan or will I miss having a decent cold break with this process?

 

[helibrewer]

Sounds fine, if you are going to use a plate chiller I would recommend using a bag or spider for your hops, you don't want hop debris going into the plate chiller

 

[friarsmith]

What helibrewer said. Also, leave the immersion chiller in the kettle until after you drain out the wort to your fermenter. Lifting it out before draining may agitate the cold break cake you've waited so patiently to settle. Whirlfloc/Irish Moss late in the boil will help a lot too...

I think you'll find the extra time for the wp hops rest will help the break to settle out and give the kettle finings time to do their thing, even if the wort is warm.

 

[eagle23]

Thank you for the quick replies. So if I use the Immersion chiller to drop the temp for the cold break. At what temperature will the cold break be done so I can switch over to the plate chiller?

 

[friarsmith]

The rate of cooling is likely more important (the quicker the better) at the homebrew scale. To answer your question about when the cold break is done... it's a function of time and temperature. More break material will settle out as the wort gets colder AND sits (unagitated) longer.

If you chilled two identical worts at the same rate to 65*, but let one kettle sit 15 minutes longer before draining, the kettle you drained first would have a bit more break material in suspension and thus more in the fermenter. The positive or negative impacts of some break material getting to the fermenter is debatable (like everything in brewing).

You'll have to test this on your system and decide based on how clear the wort looks and balance that with your tolerance/patience for waiting, but given your setup I'd recommend chilling to ~80*F over the course of 15-20 minutes with your IC, then turn off the IC and wait a few more minutes if you can for more settling, then switch to the plate chiller to take you home...

In talking with lots of home brewers over the years (I work p/t at a LHBS), I think there's a slight paranoia from books and brewing lore about rushing to transfer cool wort into the fermenter. Once the wort stops steaming, simply cover it with the kettle lid or a few pieces of foil and continue chilling and/or letting it settle-- up to an hour or so is totally fine. Whirlfloc or Irish Moss will speed up the process quite a bit.



related thread...
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/at-what-temp-does-cold-break-form.416548/

https://beerandbrewing.com/cold-break/

 

[eagle23]

Thank you for the answer. Somehow even using the search I can never find the other threads to answer my questions.