What is this

[snail71]

So I did my third all grain batch this weekend, an SNPA clone. Everything went well. I mashed at 152 for one hour. I recirculated several quarts until clear and then sparged with 180 degree water. The mash in the brew kettle had no debris and no grain particles that could be seen. After about 45 minutes into the boil I began to see white stuff in the boiling mash and when I transferred the mash to the fermentor after cooling you could see a large amount of this stuff. Is this protein? Why so much? I do have a screen on my kettle that should filter stuff out but this stuff got through it.

Kettle screen

You can see the stuff in the boil

And here it is in the fermentor

 

[LLBeanJ]

Yes, it's break material (I.e., proteins) and screens won't filter it. If you don't want it in your fermenter you need to give it time to settle out and then transfer in a manner that won't also transfer the proteins. Not really worth the bother, though, IMO.

 

[Yooper]

The little goobers in the first picture are hot break material- a really good thing to have happen. I always say that once the hot break happens, the wort gets a "egg drop soup" appearance.

The big goobers in the fermenter are cold break material. Those are larger coagulated proteins than the hot break.

In other words, you done good! Those coagulated proteins will fall to the bottom of the fermenter, and leave clear beer behind.

Here's an article I wrote some time ago on wort and beer clarity, and it talks about hot breaks and cold breaks: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/clear-wort-clear-beer.html

 

[snail71]

I always say that once the hot break happens, the wort gets a "egg drop soup" appearance.

That describes it perfectly. I have seen this in my first two brews but to to a far less extent than this brew. Thanks for the info - I feel much better now.

 

[JonM]

And it'll compact down a lot over the next couple days. I bet by Wednesday, that stuff will only an inch or so thick.

 

[Revvy]

If you started with extract brewing, like many of us did, you didn't see a lot of hot break, or foaming during the boil, the majority of that happens at the maltser when the boil and concentrate the wort to extract. So yeah it can be scary the first time you see it, especially if you get the proteins that look like egg drop soup floating around initially.

 

[WaltG]

That's a mighty handsome beer. Also I found if you're looking for clarity a cold crash does wonders.

 

[RM-MN]

One item that hasn't been mentioned is the recirculating the wort (vorlauf) to get it clear. You mentioned that you recirculated several quarts to get the wort clear. That isn't necessary. You only need to recirculate until you quit getting particles of grain or husk material. You can get clear beer from very cloudy wort.