Questions about the hot break

[tampa911]

So I did my second extract brew last weekend and have some questions about the hotbreak (or lack of hot break). I am using a turkey friar and have been doing partial boils (2.5 gallon) in a 20 qt. pot.

I do not get a clean hot break through the entire 60 minute boil and am constantly misting the boil with a spray bottle to avoid boil over. I can get the boil to calm down for 3 - 5 minutes at a time, but it always starts to foam up, and come close to boiling over.

Is the temerature regulation not constant enough on the turkey friar, am I boiling too hot, or is this normal?

 

[choosybeggar]

That's odd. Hot break typically subsides within 5 min. I'll be interested to hear the experience of others.

 

[duboman]

So I did my second extract brew last weekend and have some questions about the hotbreak (or lack of hot break). I am using a turkey friar and have been doing partial boils (2.5 gallon) in a 20 qt. pot.

I do not get a clean hot break through the entire 60 minute boil and am constantly misting the boil with a spray bottle to avoid boil over. I can get the boil to calm down for 3 - 5 minutes at a time, but it always starts to foam up, and come close to boiling over.

Is the temerature regulation not constant enough on the turkey friar, am I boiling too hot, or is this normal?

You can't boil too hot. Boiling is boiling. You can be boiling too vigorously. You just need a rolling boil, it doesn't need to be jumping out of the pot!

Every time you add some hops you can get additional foaming as well.

 

[kapbrew13]

So I did my second extract brew last weekend and have some questions about the hotbreak (or lack of hot break). I am using a turkey friar and have been doing partial boils (2.5 gallon) in a 20 qt. pot.

I do not get a clean hot break through the entire 60 minute boil and am constantly misting the boil with a spray bottle to avoid boil over. I can get the boil to calm down for 3 - 5 minutes at a time, but it always starts to foam up, and come close to boiling over.

Is the temerature regulation not constant enough on the turkey friar, am I boiling too hot, or is this normal?

Learn to control your burner. I start mine a full power and when the wort starts bubbling, turn it down till I barely hear the gas from the burner. Then I get a happy rolling boil. No more foaming over after that.

 

[aiptasia]

Yep, fire it up and then when it hits a rolling boil, back down the gas feeding the flame to just maintain the boil. Too hot and you're going to have malliard reactions, which are great for making caramel but lousy for most styles of beer.

One tip I can give you is to use some fermcap-s during your boil. It's an anti-foaming agent and works well at coagulating the proteins that cause hot break. Add one drop per gallon of wort during the boil. It's food grade, non-toxic and falls into the trub during fermentation. It also works well for controlling krausen foam. For controlling the krausen level, add two drops per gallon to your primary fermenter.

 

[tampa911]

When I said boiling too hot, I guess I really meant to aggresively.

If I cannot get a perfect balance, is it better to loose the boil for a few seconds due to dropping the temp too low, or constantly fighting boil over due to running a little too hot?

 

[kapbrew13]

....

One tip I can give you is to use some fermcap-s during your boil. It's an anti-foaming agent and works well at coagulating the proteins that cause hot break. Add one drop per gallon of wort during the boil. It's food grade, non-toxic and falls into the trub during fermentation. It also works well for controlling krausen foam. For controlling the krausen level, add two drops per gallon to your primary fermenter.

And if you have a baby, I hear baby mylacon can be used. : )

 

[choosybeggar]

One tip I can give you is to use some fermcap-s during your boil. It's an anti-foaming agent and works well at coagulating the proteins that cause hot break. Add one drop per gallon of wort during the boil. It's food grade, non-toxic and falls into the trub during fermentation. It also works well for controlling krausen foam. For controlling the krausen level, add two drops per gallon to your primary fermenter.

I used Fermcap a few times until learning it is not recommended for non-filtered beers.

http://hbd.org/discus/messages/50162/50540.html?1304008514

 

[SIXFOOTER]

You can also put a pinch of your bittering hops in when the boil starts, it will knock the foam down some. Will take some experementing with the temp to find the happy place with the boil, full blast with your rig may not be the way to go.