Hot and cold breaks?

[brooks56]

I started my first beer three days ago and things seem to be going great I've definitely have dove into this way more than my wife thought I would and thanks everyone for the excellent advise. I do have a couple general questions though.

What are hot and cold breaks? Why are they so important and when do they happen? Also, are there any good books anyone recommends?

 

[duboman]

Hot break is the reaction of the hops and proteins and certain minerals coagulating and precipitating due to the boil and is beneficial for the brewing process

Cold break occurs in similar fashion when you chill the wort as you will see small clumps of proteins form and begin to settle out.

Both processes help with fermentation and the clarifying process after fermentation.

As for reading: Definitely Palmer's "how to Brew", also Papazian's "Joy of Homebrewing", Mosher's "Radical Brewing and I highly recommend White/Zanisheff "Yeast"

 

[m1k3]

Protein coagulates out of the wort. Hot break happens during the boil. Cold break happens when you chill.

Whirlpool (stir the kettle) to form a cone of trub in the center of the kettle so that you do not run off all this break material into the fermenter. You beer will be clearer.

I would not say this is "so important" especially if you are brewing extract. I got much more break material when I went all grain. The most I ever got was from Pilsner malt.

>are there any good books anyone recommends?

My favorite books:

How to Brew - John Palmer (good when starting out but I still reference it today!)
Brewing Classic Styles - Jamil and Palmer (great when learning to write your own recipes)
Brewing Better Beer - Gordon Strong (all grain advice, I got this a little late and figured most of this out on my own)

I have a lot more books but those are my 3 best.

 

[m1k3]

Hot break is the reaction of the hops and proteins and certain minerals coagulating and precipitating due to the boil and is beneficial for the brewing process

Cold break occurs in similar fashion when you chill the wort as you will see small clumps of proteins form and begin to settle out.

Both processes help with fermentation and the clarifying process after fermentation.

As for reading: Definitely Palmer's "how to Brew", also Papazian's "Joy of Homebrewing", Mosher's "Radical Brewing and I highly recommend White/Zanisheff "Yeast"

Good job Duboman! You must have clicked submit seconds before I did!

 

[brooks56]

Thanks for the info. It seems like there is so much know and learn. It seems very technical, which I think is why I've enjoyed it so much to this point. I know I'm going to stick with extracts for a while so I can concentrate on the basics and develop my process. My first brew is a malt stout but any recommendations for my next few? Maybe still starting easy to build confidence and then more and more challenging?

 

[brewkinger]

The sky is the limit for your next and future batches...

Personally, when I started out I was very nostalgic and wanted to start with the essentials, so in my opinion:

English Brown Ale NEXT

then step it up and give a good even IBU'd IPA a try... I am focused on those 2 for that last 4 all grains that I have made and I currently have Version #1 of both beers on tap at the house and my buddies come over and give me input on tweaks and changes.
I bottled a six pack of each of the version #2 and the rest is conditioning for another 2 weeks, but I must admit that they are both impressive at this point as I sampled one of each yesterday.