# do specialty malts need a hot break?



## wereprawn (19/7/13)

hi everyone,
I made up a coopers lager brew a few days and put 200g of victory and 100g of crystal medium in. I cracked the grains and steeped them in hot water for half an hour.the resulting liquid looked and smelled malty but did not taste even slightly sweet. I removed the grain and bought the liquid to the boil then cooled by placing the pot in cold water.
The brew has been fermenting for 4 days now and is super cloudy.Like the colour of a caramel milkshake.
Should I have given the liquid from the grain a hot break?
This is the first time using specialty malts.

cheers.


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## slcmorro (19/7/13)

How hot was the water you steeped them in, mate?


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## wereprawn (19/7/13)

not sure.boiled 2 ltrs in the kettle.let it sit for 10 min then poored water into pot with grain.


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## chefeffect (19/7/13)

I am confused by your question, but people debate as to if you need to remove the hot break from the boiling wort or not. If you didn't I would not be concerned.


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## warra48 (19/7/13)

You made a Coopers lager brew?
Presumably that is from a can?

If so, Coopers will have taken care of the hot break with the can contents.

The small amount of specialty grains you added to your brew will make absolutely no difference in terms of hot break.

Just rest easy, and look forward to a nice brew when it's all done. Do not concern yourself with it in your circumstances.

The issue of hot break is only really one for those doing partials with a substantial amount of grains, and for those of us doing All Grain.


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## wereprawn (19/7/13)

to clarify (pun intended) I have heard that a hot break is required to precipitate out proteins.but then I have also heard that it is not needed with these types of crystalized grains.and I hear that I need the water temp at to be spot on.on the other hand coz the starches in the grains have already been converted apparently I can just use hot water.but not boiling as not to extract tannins from the grain.so I am confused too.


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## mmmyummybeer (19/7/13)

If you have taken the grain bag out and then brought to a boil then you would of had the hot break from the the boiling process, If its super cloudy like you say you could check how its taste to rule out a infection, otherwise just wait and see how it turns out, at only 4 days into ferment it is still early days.


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## wereprawn (19/7/13)

thanks warra48.i was a bit worried because I have been brewing for a long time with extract and can kits and have never seen a brew this cloudy.i also dry hopped with some mosaic and wow.it smells bloody delicious.


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## manticle (19/7/13)

Fermenting beer will be cloudy. As warra suggests, don't worry about break with a small spec grain steep.


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## wbosher (19/7/13)

mmmyummybeer said:


> If you have taken the grain bag out and then brought to a boil then you would of had the hot break from the the boiling process, If its super cloudy like you say you could check how its taste to rule out a infection, otherwise just wait and see how it turns out, at only 4 days into ferment it is still early days.


Agreed. At 4 days if far too early to make any judgement on the clarity of the beer.

Wait until you have reached FG and, if possible, drop temp close to zero. Otherwise, give it a couple of weeks (obviously once FG reached), bottle (or keg), and drink. 

Relax, I'm sure it will be fine.


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## wereprawn (19/7/13)

mmm yummybeer.i bought to the boil and took of heat immediately.did not have time to foam.(if that is what constitutes a proper hot break?)


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## warra48 (19/7/13)

wereprawn said:


> mmm yummybeer.i bought to the boil and took of heat immediately.did not have time to foam.(if that is what constitutes a proper hot break?)


No, foaming is not the hot break.
Hot break happens during the boil when brewing all grain or partials. It looks like flakes of white or creamy coloured proteins, which coagulate.
Nothing to be concerned about in your process.

Even if you were to generate hot break, it won't really do any harm to your beer.

In my early days of brewing AG, I used to dump everything from my kettle into the fermenter. I made beer, it was yummy, and it made little to no difference from what I can detect these days now when I leave my trub behind in the kettle.


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## wereprawn (19/7/13)

the beer has already reached a gravity of about 1006.unfortunatly we have had a warm winter so it has been fermenting at 22-24 deg.not ideal but not a lot I can do.the wife wont let me commandeer the laundry sink so I can sit it in.


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## wereprawn (19/7/13)

thanks for the info all.i will rack to secondary and stop worrying.
cheers.


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## technobabble66 (19/7/13)

Doesn't Victory need mashing to convert any starches to sugars? :mellow:

ie:
http://homebrew.stackexchange.com/questions/3885/needs-to-be-mashed

re: OP though, my fermenting wort is always cloudy as hell to start with; but i was wondering if there might be some unconverted starch contributing to the OP's cloudiness, even with a relatively small amount of Victory.


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## Lincoln2 (19/7/13)

Brewers, whenever I refer to the Hot Break!, either in speech or writing, I always capitalise and include an exclamation point. On brewing day, I always scare the bejesus out of my co-brewers by screaming out HOT BREAK! at the top of my voice. Simultaneously, I raise my mash paddle and give a thumbs up. Even when I don't notice it happening, I just pick a random point about 10-15 minutes in and yell out Hot Break! It's such a sexy and powerful sounding term that I believe it deserves more respect.


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## Ducatiboy stu (19/7/13)

Victory/xtal can be boiled for 10mins in 1-2ltrs of water then added to your ferm

Crystal malts are not temp dependant like base malts.

Boiling them for 10 mins is about the same as steeping for 30ish mins.All you are doing is releasing the flavour sugars and colour


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## Dan2 (19/7/13)

wereprawn - From the way you've phrased your question, I'm thinking you're asking "do these grains need to sit at xxºC for xx minutes?"
Hotbreak is a substance, not a proccess. As warra48 points out in post 12, it is a collection of proteins formed in the boil.
Maybe what you're trying to ask is "Do specialty grains need to be "mashed"? - yes/no?
If you're into adding a few specialty malts to your kit & kilo brews, then stick to darker (choc/roast) and crystal malts. All you're doing to these is "steeping" to extract sugars already present. If they need mashing, it means the sugars are not developed yet (still in starch form).


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## wereprawn (20/7/13)

my grains came from craftbrewer .I got 200 g each of victory, special b, carared, caraamber and 2 different brands of crystal medium and all were classified as steeping grains.do they have the wrong info for the victory?
not thinking any of them needed mashing.but as I said the liquid from steeping was not sweet ,which I thought was odd.
lincoln2 try putting your hops in beer instead of smoking them.


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## mash head (24/7/13)

Maybe test with iodine to see if you have starches present. If so you should have steeped your grain at mash temps to convert.


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## Florian (24/7/13)

wereprawn said:


> to clarify (pun intended) I have heard that a hot break is required to precipitate out proteins.but then I have also heard that it is not needed with these types of crystalized grains.and I hear that I need the water temp at to be spot on.on the other hand coz the starches in the grains have already been converted apparently I can just use hot water.but not boiling as not to extract tannins from the grain.so I am confused too.


Hot break = mash


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