do all of my beers need a protien rest all of the sudden?

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killian

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I seem to be getting a lot of break material left after the boil, it has happen in all of my last 3 batches. the first two I ended up with a good amount in the primary. the last batch I ended up leaving a gallon (wort and break) in the boil kettle so I ended up collecting less than I wanted to (3 gallons of a 4 gallon batch). I have been trying to whirlpool and I dont think it is working that well. what should I do? is that break material going to have any effect on my beer? also I was going to harvest the yeast is all of that break going to settle when I wash it?
 
I can't stand to leave a large amount of wort behind in my kettle so I pour the final hops and break into a sanitized plastic pale lined with a paint straining bag to capture the strained wort. I get the last gallon this way to get to 5.5 gallons of brew. It works for me.
 
Dunno if a protein rest will reduce the break solids. Doubt, it honestly. I'd only do p-rest when using un- or under-modified malts.

I think the best thing you can do is speed up your chilling process post-boil. I personally don't like waterpooling, and am obnoxiously fearless when it comes to HSA, so what I do is a 2-step filtering process. I chill my wort in the kettle with an IC. When it's down below 70ºf, I dump it into a sanitized stainless MLT with a false bottom. I then put a funnel strainer into the mouth of a sanitized carboy and position that directly underneath the spigot on the MLT. After making sure to sanitize the spigot with star-san spray, I drain the wort into the carboy. The hop leaves collect on the false bottom and act as a primary filter. The screen on the funnel acts as a secondary filter. It works quite well, and (knock on wood) I haven't had a batch get infected this way yet. I still get break solids, but not as bad. Note, though, that it's not as effective if you're using pelletized hops.

As for the trub, yes, the break solids will settle, but following yeast washing protocol will help separate it out from the yeast.
 
I never considered a protein rest would lessen the hot break, but it may. I just did a Bohemian Pilsner yesterday and did an hour long acid rest, a 30 minute protein rest and 40 minute beta rest and 40 minute alpha rest. I have very little hot break material and didn't come close to a boil over even with the heat cranked up. So maybe it does lessen the hot break material.
 
most of that break material will settle out during the fermentation.

do you use irish moss? have you considered using another finning agent after primary fermentatin? can/do you crash cool your secondary vessel?
 
Evan! said:
Dunno if a protein rest will reduce the break solids. Doubt, it honestly. I'd only do p-rest when using un- or under-modified malts.

I think the best thing you can do is speed up your chilling process post-boil. I personally don't like waterpooling, and am obnoxiously fearless when it comes to HSA, so what I do is a 2-step filtering process. I chill my wort in the kettle with an IC. When it's down below 70ºf, I dump it into a sanitized stainless MLT with a false bottom. I then put a funnel strainer into the mouth of a sanitized carboy and position that directly underneath the spigot on the MLT. After making sure to sanitize the spigot with star-san spray, I drain the wort into the carboy. The hop leaves collect on the false bottom and act as a primary filter. The screen on the funnel acts as a secondary filter. It works quite well, and (knock on wood) I haven't had a batch get infected this way yet. I still get break solids, but not as bad. Note, though, that it's not as effective if you're using pelletized hops.

As for the trub, yes, the break solids will settle, but following yeast washing protocol will help separate it out from the yeast.

FWIW, I've heard that trub is actually beneficial during the fermentation process. I can't remeber if it was one of the White bros or Dave Logsdon who said it, but I'm pretty sure it was mentioned in one of the BBR podcasts.

Essentially, they ran an starter "experiment" at Seibel that showed that wort with trub (hot break and cold break) started fermenting faster and reproduced more (higher final cell count) than a starter wort that had been filtered.

Just saying, you might want to reconsider all that extra work you do at filtering out the trub.
 
I brew an extra gallon and leave all that break/hop debris behind...Its easy and allows me to transfer crystal clear wort to the primary. You do not need to have any visible trub in your primary to have sufficient nutrients for your yeast.

GT
 
in this case I dont think it is the cooling rate Im cooling 3 gallons and it is cooling very quickly, a lot faster than my 10 gallon batches with the same chiller.

I have been using whirlfloc.
 
killian said:
blender I like that idea and I might try that.
I have a trash can that I fill with 5 gallons of iodaphor so that I can keep all the equipment and such submerged as I go about the final stages of brewing. When it comes time to strain I pour what I don't want to siphon into the strainer and lift it slightly and I can capture hops and trub. I actually squeeze it a bit to help it go faster. I end up with about a softball sized wad of waste and there is still plenty of smaller pieces that make it into the fermentor but it fills my carboy.:)
 
I was listening to the jamil show on Belgian strong golden ales and they commented that a thicker mash aids in protein degradation, I just thought I would mention it. the comment was 1hr 13min into the show if any one wants to check the archive.
 
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