To boil or not to boil Coopers kits?

[ukulele01]

I've been given to know that pasteurization in our instances happens at 160F in seconds. I add remaining DME & all LME at flame out while it's still boiling hot. It not only dissolves easier,but,as I said with pasteurization happening @ 160F,& the wort being at at least 190F yet,flame out additions are fine & work great for me. When the BK is off the heat,it's still being boiling hot won't hurt it,since the heat is no longer constantly held. I then leave it covered to steep a couple minutes before the ice bath to pasteurize a bit. Chill it down to about 75F,then strain into the FV. Top off with water that's chilled in the fridge a day or two. Stir roughly for a few minutes to mix wort & top off. Take gravity sample & pitch yeast,& seal'er up. A little foaming is a sure sign that it's geting o2 mixed in,which is a good thing before yeast is pitched. It needs more air mixed in when mixing the wort & top off in the fermenter. The reason being that the boiling process drives off dissolved o2 in the wort.

I don't disagree with you, one certainly needs to introduce a good amount of O2 to support yeast growth. But my understanding is that one should do what one can to limit foaming during the brewing stage, as do commercial brewers, as it uses up proteins that could otherwise be used to create "beer head," aka foam, in the finished product. So the trick is to add O2 while causing as little foaming as possible. But it is only one of many factors in the creation of beer head. http://byo.com/stories/item/693-getting-good-beer-foam-techniques

 

[boscobeans]

Another thing to remember when using pre-hopped malt type kits is the water. I only use RO water with them since the water profile is important when making your wort and this has already been done making the LME or DME.

bosco

 

[unionrdr]

I don't disagree with you, one certainly needs to introduce a good amount of O2 to support yeast growth. But my understanding is that one should do what one can to limit foaming during the brewing stage, as do commercial brewers, as it uses up proteins that could otherwise be used to create "beer head," aka foam, in the finished product. So the trick is to add O2 while causing as little foaming as possible. But it is only one of many factors in the creation of beer head. http://byo.com/stories/item/693-getting-good-beer-foam-techniques

The thing you have to remember here is that the wort got foamed up from whipping air into it,which settles back into the wort. It's krausen that contains some dissolved protiens. So whipping air into the wort won't remove protiens needed for head. Crystal malts,carapils,malto dextrin & the like add some back for head retention,foam stability & mouth feel. I get plenty of head quite easilly,even though I use super moss 10 minutes left in the boil.