getting protiens to drop out during hot break

[quadbikerjosh]

today was a brew day full of firsts for me. i just made a wort chiller and got a few other neat things. i've been having clarity problems so ive been doing new things, such as utilizing a wort chiller, irish moss etc.

more to the point. today during cleanup i noticed these almost rod shaped squishy things in the bottom of my brew pot among the hop material and other crap that fell out of suspension when i cooled my wort from 180 degrees F to 72 degrees F in about 15 muinutes. are these clumps protiens? maybe some stray grain particles? the wort tasted normal and fermentation has taken off wonderfully. so im not worried, just curious what these things could be.

 

[ehedge20]

Did you use Irish moss this time as well?

 

[MalFet]

Protein coagulates tend to look like clumps of snot floating around in the wort. They should break up if you agitate them, or at least deform. If these were actually solid, I'd suspect it was something else.

 

[ehedge20]

And if he used Irish Moss then the proteins would have bonded to it dropped to the bottom and looked as he describes. Correct?

 

[MalFet]

And if he used Irish Moss then the proteins would have bonded to it dropped to the bottom and looked as he describes. Correct?

Or even if he didn't. It sounds like protein, but I'm not sure I would have used the term "rods" to describe break.

 

[quadbikerjosh]

yes i used a good sized tablespoon of irish moss for a 5 galon batch. maybe using the term "rods" was a bit inacurate.it just kinda took me by suprise that they were all somewhat uniform in shape. they almost looked like lumpy pieces of grain, witch is what i thought it was at first. when i took a closer look and touched one, it fell apart, was all squishy, and was all the same material all the way thru. the leftover wort at this time, where all the crud was, was also cold. it would mak sense if the protiens clumped to the irish moss, they would have resembled sorta the pieces of irish moss i put into the boil.

 

[Ravenshead]

Did it look like this?

 

[quadbikerjosh]

yep it did, only i found more "solid" pieces floating around in that too. they were the consitancy of really overcooked rice. its looking good so far tho. it has a really healthy looking fermentation going right now.

 

[GodsStepBrother]

I to just got this the last night when i brewed. It looked like the picture but they where in little chunks as well, on the bottom of the pot.

 

[Ravenshead]

Sounds like a good cold break then.

 

[quadbikerjosh]

well alright. homemade wort chiller did its job then i supose. best $35 and fifteen muinutes i ever spent. glad to hear im not the only one tho. how did you cool your wort stepbrother?

 

[Ravenshead]

Homemade IC made from 20' of 1/2" copper line and a few other odds and ends. The same as you did, it sounds.

Whirlfloc makes a huge difference BTW.

 

[quadbikerjosh]

Homemade IC made from 20' of 1/2" copper line and a few other odds and ends. The same as you did, it sounds.

Whirlfloc makes a huge difference BTW.

more so thain irish moss?

 

[Ravenshead]

I don't know. I haven't tried irish moss since I went AG. It did do a lot more than the irish moss did on the extract brew I made with it. I don't think that's a fair comparison though. When I use up all my Whirlfloc I plan on trying IM just to see.

 

[coryforsenate]

I tried whirlfloc for the first time yesterday. Great stuff. I get a better break than when I used regular Irish moss.

Of course, it's more expensive. Like a dollar a pop vs a dollar for several pops.