hot trub?

[jefferym09]

What is Hot trub? what causes it? does it have any negative effects on the finished beer and if so how do you remedy it?

 

[TopherM]

I think you mean hot break, i.e., the solids that seem to magically show up during the boil.

Hot break is proteins from the grain that coagulates at higher temps. It does not have any substantial negative effects. Some beers, like wheats/weizens, you actually want those proteins to end up in the final beer. In all other beers, it is harmless to leave those proteins in the wort during primary fermentation. You generally want to let it settle as much as possible and rack off of that yeast/protein layer in the final beer. Even at that, ending up with some of those proteins in your final beer won't really affect the taste much, it is just undesireable because it leads to haze in the beer.

Products like irish moss, whirfloc, gelatin, and isinglass also help coagulate proteins and pull them out of suspension to promote clarity in the final beer.

Hope that helps!

 

[jefferym09]

weird, i was always under the impression that the hot break was the layer of foam that builds up when wort gets hot enough during the boil. i was talking about the very large and numerous protein "chunks" that rise and float around as the wort gets up to temperature. there is one other post about "hot trub" specifically, but it didnt really give me what i wanted.

Ive done maybe 11-12 brews now and ive only experienced these large chunks once on my last brew. So is this just a product of the hot break? or is it something completely different?

I found this on google, and honestly it gives me most of the info i was looking for, but I would appreciate some more input from anyone who has had this happen.
http://morebeer.com/brewingtechniques/library/backissues/issue1.4/barchet.html

 

[HeadyKilowatt]

James Brown's Celebrity Hot Trub Party

 

[rdann87]

Perhaps it was the style of beer you are brewing?

I noticed more "hot break" material when i brewed my first big beer. Assumed it was just a result of more grain and possibly some getting through the false bottom.

Doubt it will have any negative effect, if your that worried filter it before transferring to secondary.

 

[jefferym09]

i have hot break almost every time i brew, its the hot trub i had only seen once. I dunno this is all kinda confusing to me.

The foam layer from the hot break as far as i know is normal, but the large floating chunks of trub that swirl around as the wort is getting up to boiling temp is what was different. So the floating chunks came first BEFORE the foam layer from the hot break.

 

[TopherM]

Both the chunks and the foam is the proteins from the grain coagulating during the hot break phase of the boil.

In almost 3 years of brewing, and reading several brewing books and thousands of HBT posts, I've honestly never heard the term "hot trub" before.

 

[jefferym09]

hmm thats odd. Well i'll just assume its nothing i should worry about then. But if anyone is curious, take a look at the link i posted above. If hot trub is a real thing, then that has much to say about it

 

[jefferym09]

actually i peered at that link again and it does reffer to the hot trub as also the "break". but it also says that removal of it before fermentation is critical. I honestly dont know what the deal is here. It seems like it says that you should somehow remove the trub, i have no idea how to do that before putting it into primary. maybe the author is crazy or somthing...

 

[elkshadow]

actually i peered at that link again and it does reffer to the hot trub as also the "break". but it also says that removal of it before fermentation is critical. I honestly dont know what the deal is here. It seems like it says that you should somehow remove the trub, i have no idea how to do that before putting it into primary. maybe the author is crazy or somthing...

I wouldn't put much weight on that article. It's from 1993 and homebrewing science has come a LONG way since then. For your consideration, I brewed my first batch in 1994 and at that time it was believed that table sugar had no place in beer whatsoever. Not even for priming. It would make your beer cidery and hot and priming with DME would give you tighter bubbles and "creamier" head. Well, we know now that that simply isn't the case. Sure if 50% of your OG is sugar you will notice but back then it was "ZOMG you can't use sugar at all or you'll have vinegar!!!"

I've never heard about this "hot trub" either. I would say almost 100% of homebrewers are not removing this break from their wort and there is certainly no epidemic of horrible flavors coming from it.

Don't worry about the break. Just don't forget to add the correct amount of unicorn tears and you'll be golden.

 

[jefferym09]

haha wow i never looked at the date of the article. alright well i'll just forget about it then. Thanks!