Hot Break Question

[kjung]

I am looking at a recipe that I may want to try, and the instructions say, "Once the hot break has died down, add all the hops....."
My question is, how do you know when the hot break has died down? I've never worried about that, just adding the bittering hops for the 60 minutes. Is this a different technique, or have I been doing something wrong all this time?

 

[Revvy]

You'll know. At one point foam will form at the top of the kettle, it will grow and "dance around" for a bit, it may even seem like you will nearly boil over and then it will suddenly disappear. And it will look like the boiling wort before the break happened.

After the break

 

[kjung]

Thanks Rev. After I posted, I looked it up on Wiki, and realized what it is. I never knew what "hot break" actually was, and I've been waiting for it to fall the entire time I've been brewing!

Good to know I've been doing something right, even IF I didn't realize it.