Plate chiller and cold break

[WhiskeySix]

Started using a plate chiller a couple of batches ago. It works great. 190 after hop stand straight to 65.
My question concerns cold break. Should I recirculate back to the kettle til the whole batch is cool or straight to the fermentor? Will I get a good cold break in the carboy or the kettle?

 

[mchrispen]

I have tried both recirculation through a paint strainer bag back into the kettle, and just straight into fermenter. While I get some of the break material screened out, I am not convinced it is worth the trouble. Recirculation does keep the beer on the hops longer - so you would want to account for that in your recipe.

I have not seen much of a difference in the end product (clarity or flavor) fermenting on the break material or without. Some will always make it into the fermenter anyway.

 

[SavoryChef]

I have tried both recirculation through a paint strainer bag back into the kettle, and just straight into fermenter. While I get some of the break material screened out, I am not convinced it is worth the trouble. Recirculation does keep the beer on the hops longer - so you would want to account for that in your recipe.

I have not seen much of a difference in the end product (clarity or flavor) fermenting on the break material or without. Some will always make it into the fermenter anyway.

Yup this

 

[Vlint]

Are you also using a bazooka screen?

 

[mchrispen]

False bottom in a keggle. It doesn't do a great job with pellets - works well with whole hops. I try to bag my pellet hops.

The paint strainer bag I will recirc through if I use pellet hops, it often gathers up a lot of break material.

 

[BigFloyd]

Started using a plate chiller a couple of batches ago. It works great. 190 after hop stand straight to 65.
My question concerns cold break. Should I recirculate back to the kettle til the whole batch is cool or straight to the fermentor? Will I get a good cold break in the carboy or the kettle?

I try to minimize the amount of gunk going into my fermenter bucket so I -

1) bag hop pellets

2) use 1/2 a pulverized whirlfloc tab @ 10 min

3) recirculate through my plate chiller back into the kettle while chilling

4) after chilling is done, I cover the kettle (a 15.5g keggle) with sanitized foil and let it sit 15-20 minutes to let the break material and other junk settle out.

5) Very gently start the pump flow when I begin transferring to the bucket.

I get pretty clear wort and there's a decent layer of gunk left in the bottom of the keggle. Recirculating back into the keggle also lets me monitor the wort temp via the temp probe and PID controller.