Hot Break Question

[Kennelmouth]

So I have done two batches so far from extract. I watched many many many videos on brewing before I attempted it myself and I always see the "hot break" referred to in the boiling process. But it never happened in either of my boils. I know that extract has already been hot breaked, so it may not be necessary, but shouldn't it still happen? None of my recipes and none of the videos I've seen give a boil temp, they just say "rolling boil." My first one was boiled at about 212, my second one was done at 205-206.

1) Do any of you boil at a specific temperature?
2) If I don't see a hot break am I boiling to low?
3) Is the absence of a hot break a problem?
4) WTH is a cold break?

 

[beertroll]

1) No, I just look at the surface activity. The entire surface should have vigorous motion.
2) Maybe? I've had a couple of batches where the hot break is pretty minimal. It may depend somewhat on your ingredients and/or your mash. 206 should be a good solid boil at your elevation. If you're not getting lots of surface action, your thermometer might be reading a little high. How much do you boil off? For a 60 minute boil, I typically boil off 1.75-2 gallons.
3) Are you absolutely certain there's no hot break? Do you have a sight glass on your kettle? If you do, and you can see solid flecks floating in clear wort by midway through your boil, you're probably getting hot break. If it isn't breaking, you'll probably just end up with cloudier beer.
4) Some of the proteins, etc, fall out of suspension when the wort is chilled rapidly. That sediment piling up on the bottom of the fermenter for the first couple of hours after the boil is the cold break. If you're using a transparent fermenter, you can watch it happen.

 

[Channel66]

So I have done two batches so far. I watched many many many videos on brewing before I attempted it myself and I always see the "hot break" referred to in the boiling process. But it never happened in either of my boils. None of my recipes and none of the videos give a good boil temp, they just say "rolling boil." My first one was boiled at about 212, my second one was done at 205-206.

1) Do any of you boil at a specific temperature?
2) If I don't see a hot break am I boiling to low?
3) Is the absence of a hot break a problem?
4) WTH is a cold break?

1. Boiling is a set temperature, once water or wort is heated to the boiling point you cannot make it hotter or cooler and still maintain a boil, you can only make a more vigorous boil at the same temperature (212f depending on your elevation) by increasing the heat.

2. If you don't get hot break is likely that you are not boiling vigorous enough. It's also likely especially on a stovetop, in a big pot with a partial boil, that you are getting a hot break but not really noticing.

3. No not really, we all tend to battle it. A good hot break is a sign of a good strong boil, but if you are maxing out your heat source and just barely achieving boil I wouldn't worry about it until you can upgrade.

4. cold break is achieved when chilling your wort quickly, it's the dropping out of proteins and other material when you cool something from boiling to room temperature quickly, things like proteins coagulate and turn to "solid" dropping out of the liquid. This is a good thing. It is sped up with the addition of things like whirlfloc and Irish moss. These additions help coagulate proteins so they can drop out. Eventually helping clear your beer.

 

[Kennelmouth]

How much do you boil off? For a 60 minute boil, I typically boil off 1.75-2 gallons.

The first batch (at 212) boiled off about nearly a gallon (I started with about 3½) The second batch (at 206) only lost about a half gallon (also started at 3½).

3) Are you absolutely certain there's no hot break? Do you have a sight glass on your kettle? If you do, and you can see solid flecks floating in clear wort by midway through your boil, you're probably getting hot break. If it isn't breaking, you'll probably just end up with cloudier beer.

Absolutely sure? no. I was just looking for the crazy foam action and never saw it.

4) Some of the proteins, etc, fall out of suspension when the wort is chilled rapidly. That sediment piling up on the bottom of the fermenter for the first couple of hours after the boil is the cold break. If you're using a transparent fermenter, you can watch it happen.

Yeah I used a wort chiller. Expensive, but it seems like it was well worth the cost - though looking at it I'm thinking I could have built my own for half the price. I ferment in a carboy so I have definitely seen that settling occur.

Thanks for the insight.

 

[Kennelmouth]

One more question...this thread doesn't appear when I click on "my threads," but my other two do appear. Have any experience with that?

 

[KepowOb]

1) No, I just look at the surface activity. The entire surface should have vigorous motion.
2) Maybe? I've had a couple of batches where the hot break is pretty minimal. It may depend somewhat on your ingredients and/or your mash. 206 should be a good solid boil at your elevation. If you're not getting lots of surface action, your thermometer might be reading a little high. How much do you boil off? For a 60 minute boil, I typically boil off 1.75-2 gallons.

1.75-2 gallons of boil off?! That seems pretty extreme for 60 minutes. You don't need a super intense boil, just a nice rolling one. I know air temp and humidity effect it as well, but 2 gallons makes me think you can turn down the heat a bit. Once I get a boil going, I turn my burner down as much as possible while keeping the boil going.