kiwisteveo
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making a stout at the momment using extract method with only a 6L boil is there a need to acheive a cold break?
http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter7-4.htmlI thought the cold break was good for yeast nutrient. With my limited knowledge I say yes, get a good cold break. Happy to be proven otherwise though
10.8 Hot wort clarification
At the end of the boil the wort should be absolutely clear (`bright') but contain,
suspended in it, the remains of hops and flocs of trub or hot break. If whole hops are
employed then the spent hops will probably weigh 0.71.4 kg/hl (2.45.0 lb./imp. brl) wet
weight and will be associated with a significant amount of wort. The trub will be in the
region of 0.210.28 kg/hl (0.751.0 lb./imp. brl) wet weight and will contain 8085%
water (Hough et al., 1982). Hot break contains roughly 5060% crude protein, 2030%
tannin, 1520% resins and 23% ash (dry wt., Andrews, 1992). Significant quantities of
lipids are also present. Flocs of trub may reach 510mm in diameter, but these can easily
be disrupted, e.g., by pumping, into particles of 2080 um diameter and a greater
exposure to shear will reduce these to particles of 0.51.5 um. The hot break should be
removed from the wort as thoroughly as possible, and this is most easily achieved with
large particles. Consequently boiled wort should be handled gently and shear should be
avoided to minimize damage to the trub.
10.10 The cold break
As the wort cools it becomes cloudy as the cold break or trub separates from solution.
This material contains about 50% protein, 1525% polyphenols and 2030% of wort
carbohydrates (see Chapter 9). Unlike the hot break this material does not flocculate, and
occurs as small particles, <1 um, in amounts reported to be 40350 mg/l. In the past
there was much interest in the temperatures at which cold break formation began and
whether it occurred more rapidly when cooling was rapid or slow (Hough et al., 1982).
The importance of cold break in brewing is disputed. There may be two main reasons for
this; firstly the break in worts from different grists may have significantly different
properties and, secondly, in some cases the cold break may be mixed with hot break that
was not completely removed and so effects attributed to the cold break are, in fact, due to
residual hot break. Some have reported that cold break has no influence on fermentation
rate or beer analyses while others report that cold break accelerates the fermentation rate
very significantly (Crompton and Hegarty, 1991; Dickel et al., 2002; Narziss et al., 1971;
Rehberger and Luther, 1994).
Nowadays the cold break is not usually removed. A prerequisite for this, however, is an optimal hot break removal and fermentative yeast (assimilation yeast). With a powerful course of fermentation, a distinctive flavour, good flavour stability and good foam stability can be expected.
I wouldn't mind removing the hot break and allowing the cold break to go into the fermenter.
However, from a practical point of view, how do I separate them in my kettle, and remove just the hot break? I use an immersion chiller.
Cold break material is good as a yeast nutrient, but the chemicals that make up a cold break are still there if you don't do a cold break, they are just in solution. What people mean is they recommend you leave the cold break material inside the fermenter during fermentation so that they are still available to the yeast, even though they have come out of solution as 'cold break' material. Other people remove the cold break by letting it settle to the bottom and leaving it in the boil kettle when transfering the wort to the fermenter.I thought the cold break was good for yeast nutrient. With my limited knowledge I say yes, get a good cold break. Happy to be proven otherwise though
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