Hot/cold break

[kingoslo]

Hello,

Correct me if I am wrong. As I understand it, the hot/cold breaks are when proteins that make your beer more hazy settles at the bottom of the kettle.

Am I supposed to leave this material out of my fermenter, or should I dump the whole brew in (including the settled proteins)?

Thanks,
Marius

 

[ThreeTaps]

Dump the whole thing in.

 

[kingoslo]

Great. Will the proteins then settle at the bottom?

Thanks,
Marius

 

[Hang Glider]

Yup -
the trub at the bottom of your primary (leave it behind when you rack/bottle) consists of the hot/cold break, some yeast, any hop particles, irish moss, etc.

 

[kingoslo]

Last time i made a batch there were a lot of brown particles at the bottom of my kettle. and when i poured everything in, I decided to leave them in the kettle and discard them. Was this a bad idea? Are there any chance that discarding these particles have ruined my beer?

They reminded of very brown soil.

Thanks,
Marius

 

[Ksosh]

Last time i made a batch there were a lot of brown particles at the bottom of my kettle. and when i poured everything in, I decided to leave them in the kettle and discard them. Was this a bad idea? Are there any chance that discarding these particles have ruined my beer?

They reminded of very brown soil.

Thanks,
Marius

Probably not. It's really hard to ruin beer, short of infecting it with something. nasty (Even then, just call it a Berliner Weiss and it'll taste fine for the style (i.e. ****ty)). That gunk might be hop pellet residue, which would fall out of suspension in the primary anyway.

RDWHAHB

 

[Hammy71]

You didn't hurt a thing. I all-grain brew, but I always calculate my start volume to leave some wort in the bottom of the pot. My valve is about 3/4" off the bottom of the pot so alot of the 'sediment' is left behind in the pot. It won't hurt anything but it keeps more room in the carboy for wort instead of 'stuff'.....

 

[kingoslo]

Thank you gentlemen.

Marius

 

[Makeyermark]

FWIW, I use a large strainer when I pour my wort into the primary. This will leave some of the finer particles in the wort, while removing the larger ones. At the same time, it helps airate the wort as it filter through the strainer. Just be sure to sterlize it first.

 

[Bassman]

Is dumping it all okay even if you don't secondary?

 

[Hammy71]

Yes....you just have to be more careful when your racking to your bottling bucket/keg. Crash cooling really compacts the trub and makes racking from a primary that much more easier....

 

[JoeMama]

I too am a fan of crash cooling nowdays. I know that some like to rack their wort off of the trub when going into the fermenter but I have ALWAYS just dumped it. I think I filtered the hops on my very first batch but since then it all goes into the fermenter. I never secondary (unless on fruit) and I always have nice and clear beer.

Long primaries and cold crashing FTW!
(Oh yeah, and kegging too)
-Me