Skimming At Pre-boil And Start Of Boil.

[gunbrew]

Read the other day a very convinving post from another AHB member saying "just try skimming once and you will be converted for ever".
I put a brew on last night:
5kg Traditional ale malt
500g carra malt
Mashed at 62 degrees for 90 mins.
As I was bringing it to the boil the I skimmed all the foam off the top.
Spent about 15 mins doing it and ended up with about 2 litres in the bucket as pictured.
Usually I leave it in the brew.
Any stray bits of husk or anything all get caught up in that foam.
Seemed a rewarding exercise and I will skim from now on.
The 2 litres I skimmed looks exactly like what I usually have left over in the kettle after a boil.
Nice to reduce that at the start of boil.
So to the fella whos post it was, who ever you are, Cheers... have not found what thread I was reading your comments in.
I am converted to skimming.

I then added 70 grams of "wet" home grown chinook at 60, 40 and 0 mins
On another topic, I have no idea about beer styles after about 30 all grain brews.
What style of beer have I made?
Thanks.

 

[malt_shovel]

Read the other day a very convinving post from another AHB member saying "just try skimming once and you will be converted for ever".
....

So to the fella whos post it was, who ever you are, Cheers... have not found what thread I was reading your comments in.
I am converted to skimming.

What style of beer have I made?
Thanks.

I believe it was Tony. I remember reading it and doing the same experiment with my next beer. Not sure of the verdict as to whether it was worth the effort.

As for your beer, if I recall another recent thread, you should account for about 4 - 5 times weight of wet hops due to water content. So equivalent to 70gm of wet hops is about 14 - 17.5gms dry hops. So I think you will have a fairly dry (due to low mashing temp) low(ish) hopped pale ale, potentially unbalanced. May get a fair amount of alchol flavour due to lack of non-fermentable sugars, but the caramalt will help a little with that. Might need a healthy dry-hop to mask some of the dryness. Give it a taste at the end of fermentation before you mess with it though, as it could be just what you like to drink. If it was mashed higher (around 66 - 68) I'd think of it is an American style Best/Ordinary-Bitter.

Cheers
:beer:

 

[RobW]

I always skim but I don't collect quite that much.
I use a slotted spoon which catches the foam and scummy bits but lets most of the wort stay in the kettle.

Worthwhile doing IMO.

 

[beerdrinkingbob]

I believe it was Tony. I remember reading it and doing the same experiment with my next beer. Not sure of the verdict as to whether it was worth the effort.

It was Tony, I've always skimmed just because it looked wrong!! when Tony wrote to have a smell and you will never do it again i was kinda relieved!

20 minutes is a long time to be skimming, just leave it for the first 15 minutes of the boil then skim once and save yourself 17 minutes :icon_cheers:

 

[Superoo]

I skimmed for the first time 2 nites ago,

I hadnt read here, just couldnt stand the site of all the grey stuff on the top.

I skimmed until just before the actual boil and then left the rest.

If this beer turns out ok I will also be forever converted.

 

[Maheel]

what about a bit of wire and some voile, make like a small pool skimmer ?

i am a skimmer but 2L seems heaps

 

[Superoo]

Good idea Maheel...

that will be tonights project

 

[Pennywise]

Skimmer here, but no where near 2L, more like 200ml, if that.

 

[Ross]

Used to always skim & was a vocal advocater of it.... but these days I don't bother (no commercial breweries skim that I'm aware of) & not noticed any difference at all.
Something to keep you busy on brew day if you feel so inclined, but I no longer believe it actually improves the beer at all & some say it can actually decrease head retention... though again I've not noticed an improvement after stopping.

Cheers Ross

 

[gone_fishing_]

Skimming can stop a boil-over if your kettle is very full. The "scum" on top holds heat underneath which can have the tendency to go "flumph" all of a sudden.
GF

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Ross

I agree.... but then again, watching you, with Browndog and Kiwi Greg at your place many years ago, skimming the brew... B)

Oh how far have we come since then

 

[pmash]

At a recent saturday morning G&G ag brewing demo, the brewer was skimming and when asked why, replied he didn't like it, tastes like sh#t, so why keep it in the boil, taste it if you like and see what I mean, nobody has to date.

A guy on here ( Hoser, I believe) did, gagged a bit , then agreed, get rid o' that crap

 

[felten]

Yeast doesn't taste too pleasant either...

 

[bum]

Yeast doesn't taste too pleasant either...

Nor does a gobful of hop pellets. I don't understand this logic at all.

Does any current or historical text advocate scum skimming or is it a homebrewer thing?

 

[mwd]

Yeast doesn't taste too pleasant either...

Don't stir the krausen back in that is really nasty tasting too

 

[mh971]

Nor does a gobful of hop pellets. I don't understand this logic at all.

Does any current or historical text advocate scum skimming or is it a homebrewer thing?

I'm sure I read in a text somewhere not to skim because head retention or body would be impacted, and that it was important to let it boil out and re assimilate or drop through for this reason.

Just checked Palmer and its not there, must have been another source which doesn't really narrow it down I know.

Saying that I do skim the first lot of really dirty looking gear off, maybe 2 or 3 big spoons but let the remaining creamier cleaner looking break stay, it goes eventually. Seems like good bet each way.

 

[felten]

Does any current or historical text advocate scum skimming or is it a homebrewer thing?

I think it's mentioned (in favour of skimming) in passing in one of the braukaiser articles.

 

[MHB]

Skimming is one of those things that got tried in commercial brewing in the 50-60's (bit like Invert Sugar) and has largely been abandon. What makes up the "Scum" is mainly either larger molecular weight protein that winds up in the trub or smaller proteins that contributes to yeast nutrition and head stability.

The argument being that the scum contains components that are beneficial to the wort and that as there is a finite amount of head building ingredients in a wort and you really don't want to take any of them out. Any components that are undesirable drop out in the boil anyway, so why bother.

The idea that because it tastes bad (at one point) if fairly factious as pointed out above so can hops and yeast at various times.

Personally I doubt that unless you get carried away (and yes I mean 2L is too much) that you will notice much change either way; doesn't mean it isn't one of the many incremental steps that will affect the finished beer, it is, but not hugely. Overdoing it would reduce the head stability (how long head lasts) rather than the amount of head formed.

Brewing is so individual what works for you may not be seen as a benefit to others; if you do the same beer regularly I suppose it will be interesting to see if there is any really noticeable change and whether people keep doing it.

MHB

 

[haysie]

Nor does a gobful of hop pellets. I don't understand this logic at all.

Does any current or historical text advocate scum skimming or is it a homebrewer thing?

Fill me in when you get the details coz it seems a hell of a waste of time to me. Taste it? no thx, I`ll just stir it in with the hop additions and by flame out its in there with the break and trub. I always figured it was protein from the grains/recipe i.e similar to batch sparging high % wheat beers, always get that claggy cementish top with which comes chanelling, fly sparging and minimal stirring is by far the best method imo, hmmm i`ve strayed off topic again!
Anyways, skimming scum aint gotta do anything for your beer. Tony says so but Tony might do a lot of other things in his brewday that are efficient and far more effective than taking a bit of soup of the top of simmer to make a good beer.

 

[rotten]

I did skim before reading this post during my last brew only. I always beleived it couldn't hurt not too, tried it to see if I could clearer wort. Proof will be in the pudding. I get a faster boil when it's there and it's left alone, it also disapeared once boiling just as quickly IMHO.
I will not skim from now on.
Cheers

haysie beat me