Protien extraction

[FlecksBrewHouse]

There was a group if us brewing the same wort out of a big vat. My boil had a lot of big chunks (proteins) floating around, while the guy next to me had small chunks around. I was told that this had to do with the heat when the boil started. It sounds like if you end up with bigger chunks, you had a better boil.
Question: these proteins should be collected sand removed from wort. Why? It makes beer cloudy and thicker?

 

[unionrdr]

Get the heat turned up when going from mash temp to boil so that the boil is very vigorous at the beginning couple minutes. Then turn it down to an evenly rolling boil that doesn't have bubbles bursting up out of the surface like lava. This should give a better hot break. Turning the heat down after that gives less boil off. With this & a minimal crush (I use .039") the beer seems to be way clearer. And I still get good head,which is formed by protiens,but driven by co2 in the glass.

 

[FlecksBrewHouse]

Is it better to remove the protein chunks before pitching the yeast? If done, it makes beer clearer but might lose head when pouring a beer?

 

[TopherM]

You don't really want to remove the proteins. They serve as food for good yeast health and help with head retention. Some styles, most notably Hefewiezens, are even defined by having those break proteins present in the final beer.

If you practice proper conditioning timeframes and transfer procedures, the proteins will settle and have no effect on the clarity of your final beer.

Don't filter the break proteins!

 

[unionrdr]

I strain out break protiens that have coagulated. Once that happens they aren't likely to re-dissolve into the beer. Less trub & such at bottling time.

 

[TopherM]

For what it's worth, there was a recent episode on the Brew Network where the "experts" changed their mind on hot/cold break. The classic thinking is that it is better to filter it, but the more modern expert opinion is to leave it in (and hop matter, and everything else that comes out of the boil kettle).

Probably not a big deal either way.

I personally leave everything in, never rush a primary fermentation, almost never secondary, cold crash for 48 hours, and always carefully siphon to bottle/keg, and I end up with clean, clear beer.

I think good technique matters much more than if you filter out the break materials or not.

 

[unionrdr]

Yeah,that's true enough. The main reason I strain the chilled wort into the fermenter is to get a thinner trub layer come bottling day. More clear beer with a lot less hassle at that point. not to mention,less crud to deal with in the yeast washing jug/jar. But there's still a part of me that also doesn't wanna take the chance of some lil fault in th aroma or flavor from all that extra crud. Much less floaters,cloudines,etc...real or imagined.
It's process as well as a lil piece of mind for me. Part of my technique as it were. I don't secondary unless oaking or something,& the beer gets whatever time in primary that the yeasties need to finish the job properly. So I basically agree here. It's a matter of how much to deal with now while setting up the fermentation,or how much more to deal with later. But it'll have to be delt with either way. Depends on when you wanna "deal" with it.

 

[FlecksBrewHouse]

I am working on a big bear with an OG of 1.1. It's a DIPA. Wort was around 1.08+ before boil. It's now been sitting for about 4 weeks. A week ago I put it into a secondary fermentor. It had a gravity reading if 1.021. It still has work to do.
I wanted to move it into secondary because that one us my clear one. It still foggy and thick as hell.

That cloud in there, is that proteins?
I'm going to let it sit in fermentor for a proper conditioning, couple months or more.
When its pretty clear, that's when I assume its good and ill bottle it. Yes? Dies that make sense?

 

[RM-MN]

That cloud is probably yeast and it is there because it isn't done fermenting. When it is done the yeast will clump up and settle out.

 

[unionrdr]

Better known as flocculation. Yeasts have a listed flocculation rate in there descriptions. Cooper's yeast,for instance,is a high flocculation rate yeast. While US-05 is a medium flocculation rate yeast. Also,what makes wheat beers cloudy or misty is the yeast,not so much protiens. Wheat yeasts are usually low to medium flocculation yeasts.