Wort Chiller/Temp.

[badogg]

Hey guys,

I have been using my immersion wort chiller to bring the temp down in the brew kettle. And I have been stopping the chill at about 90 to 95 degrees. After reading alot in this and other forums, it looks like a lot of people cool down even further. Is there a set tempurature that I should chill down to?

I am asking because I am wondering about all of this cold break talk. At what tempurature does the cold break happen at if it is a set temp?

[Brownbeard]

I have been taking mine all the way to 75 degrees, without a chiller, that takes me a while.

[Fast_Eddy]

Originally posted by badogg
Hey guys,

I have been using my immersion wort chiller to bring the temp down in the brew kettle. And I have been stopping the chill at about 90 to 95 degrees. After reading alot in this and other forums, it looks like a lot of people cool down even further. Is there a set tempurature that I should chill down to?

I am asking because I am wondering about all of this cold break talk. At what tempurature does the cold break happen at if it is a set temp?

I've always perceived the cold break as occuring because of the rapidity of temperature change. I'm not sure how wide the temp change should be over what time frame to be optimal.

I usually cool all the way down to near pitching temp approx 75 F.

[Jeff]

I cool to close to 75*F with a mix of chiller and the kettle sitting in ice. I can usually do it in about 20 minutes. I do it more for time than anything, the sooner it cools the sooner it goes in the fermenter and I can pitch yeast.

I have fairly cold tap water year round though so I don't know how everybody else feels about it.

[BucksBrew]

I used to take it as low as I could, 60 degrees or so. Now I go to about 70-75 Degrees. This temperature seems to work best with kick starting the ferment process in my house.

Then I move the fermenter after active ferment has started to a cool dark place.

[brewmonkey]

You should try to get it as close to your fermentation temp as possible unless you are pitching a lager in which case you should try to get around 62-65 and then slowly ramp your temp down to fermentation temp over several hours.

[BucksBrew]

Originally posted by brewmonkey
You should try to get it as close to your fermentation temp as possible unless you are pitching a lager in which case you should try to get around 62-65 and then slowly ramp your temp down to fermentation temp over several hours.

Agreed. I started brewing this year in Feb. with Lagers so I would take the temp down as low as possible.

This summer with Ales I would take it down to 70ish and ferment at 68-72 degrees.

Glad to know I was doing it right somehow! haha I must be a natural!

[Asahikun]

Sorry to butt in on this thread but I've been wondering about this for some time: What exactly is a hot and cold break? At what temps do they occur and why are they good? Are there any bad effects if your brews don't experience these breaks?
Thanks.

[toneyc]

Hot and cold breaks are when the temperature of your wort changes fast enough to cause proteins and other haze causing substances to drop out of suspension. The primary advantages are clarity and cleaner taste. I dunno what temperatures they occur at, though. Like Fast_Eddy, I thought it was more of how fast the temperature changes, not exactly what the temperature is at the change.

:)
Toney.

[BucksBrew]

Originally posted by toneyc
Hot and cold breaks are when the temperature of your wort changes fast enough to cause proteins and other haze causing substances to drop out of suspension. The primary advantages are clarity and cleaner taste. I dunno what temperatures they occur at, though. Like Fast_Eddy, I thought it was more of how fast the temperature changes, not exactly what the temperature is at the change.

:)
Toney.

Toney, Being a new brewer does this mean getting the wort up to temp./boil as quickly as possible and cooling as quickly as possible?

I do notice after adding the DME/Malt that it take about 15 minutes or so until the boil over danger is gone and I'm in a happy boil with the hops being added.

Thanks if you know.

[badogg]

Bucks: The guy at my LHBS recommended to better prevent a boil over, instead of just madly stirring, to basically keep pushing the foam to one side.

[BucksBrew]

Originally posted by badogg
Bucks: The guy at my LHBS recommended to better prevent a boil over, instead of just madly stirring, to basically keep pushing the foam to one side.

I started to use a Turker Fryer out in the garage for a full boil. I only had one boil over. With a Turker Fryer there is a time delay from the bottom of the pot to the top. It kind of acts like a Volcano. I slowly raise the temp as the foam develops now.

In the past I started skimming the foam off as it develops. Not all of it but some of it. First time it looked like the foam you get when you boil a chicken. Kind of scummy, so I skimmed it off. Could have been residue from the pot as well. The beer tasted fine btw! I haven't seen it since. Maybe because I had the burner up pretty high.

[Fast_Eddy]

Originally posted by BucksBrew
...

In the past I started skimming the foam off as it develops. Not all of it but some of it. First time it looked like the foam you get when you boil a chicken. Kind of scummy, so I skimmed it off. Could have been residue from the pot as well. The beer tasted fine btw! I haven't seen it since. Maybe because I had the burner up pretty high.

You can skim it or not - it won't go back into solution. The main thing to remember to do is try to leave as much hot and cold break in the kettle as possible and not transfer it to the primary.

[Brownbeard]

I am gonna make my wort chiller this weekend.

[BucksBrew]

Originally posted by Fast_Eddy
You can skim it or not - it won't go back into solution. The main thing to remember to do is try to leave as much hot and cold break in the kettle as possible and not transfer it to the primary.

When you say leave behind the break, is this the sediment? I'm assuming so. I normally try to not get any Hop or grain sediment into my primary, just yeast.

So a break is when what your cooking or cooling causes sediment to fall to the bottom.?

[Fast_Eddy]

Originally posted by BucksBrew
When you say leave behind the break, is this the sediment? I'm assuming so. I normally try to not get any Hop or grain sediment into my primary, just yeast.

So a break is when what your cooking or cooling causes sediment to fall to the bottom.?

Yes, the break material will settle to the bottom.

Essentially a hot/cold break is the causing of particles(mostly proteins) that are in solution to come out of solution brought about by rapidly heating or cooling the wort. Those particles then will settle out of the liquid. Having a good cold break positively affects(at least) the clarity and stability of beer.

[badogg]

Originally posted by Fast_Eddy
Yes, the break material will settle to the bottom.

Essentially a hot/cold break is the causing of particles(mostly proteins) that are in solution to come out of solution brought about by rapidly heating or cooling the wort. Those particles then will settle out of the liquid. Having a good cold break positively affects(at least) the clarity and stability of beer.

Is there a way that you can tell when the cold break has occurred or to somehow guage if it was a slight break or really good one?

[BucksBrew]

I have seen my wort look like a Hot Tea with cream and Lemon added. It looks like tiny clumps are floating in the wort as it cools.

I have been stirring at this point to circulate the cool and hot wort evenly to get an accurate temp reading.

Should I be doing this or just let it cool and let the break fall to the bottom? I'm thinking I should let it cool without stirring now.

[badogg]

Originally posted by BucksBrew
I have seen my wort look like a Hot Tea with cream and Lemon added. It looks like tiny clumps are floating in the wort as it cools.

I have been stirring at this point to circulate the cool and hot wort evenly to get an accurate temp reading.

Should I be doing this or just let it cool and let the break fall to the bottom? I'm thinking I should let it cool without stirring now.

Here is some good info about this:
http://forums.homebrew.com/index.php?act=ST&f=2&t=7310&s=

[Fast_Eddy]

Originally posted by badogg
Is there a way that you can tell when the cold break has occurred or to somehow guage if it was a slight break or really good one?

I can think of a few ways that you could use as an empirical measure - but you probably wouldn't be able to use the wort.

I can say this - if you take the wort from 212F to 90F in around 20-30 minutes you'll have a good cold break. Empirically it manifests itself as the wort going from a clear(ish) liquid to a very cloudy, muddy liquid.

[Fast_Eddy]

Originally posted by BucksBrew
...
Should I be doing this or just let it cool and let the break fall to the bottom? I'm thinking I should let it cool without stirring now.

I stir mine around some(careful about hot side aeration) while it's cooling and then after it's cool I "whirlpool" it and let it settle for 20-30 minutes. The whirlpool causes most of the particulate matter to settle in the middle of kettle and then you siphon from the bottom edge of the kettle.

[kevin]

are there any effect on the wort if you pour the coldbreak into the primary? I use a nylon strainer over my primary bucket and that catches all the goop.

[Fast_Eddy]

Originally posted by kevin
are there any effect on the wort if you pour the coldbreak into the primary? I use a nylon strainer over my primary bucket and that catches all the goop.

I've heard it said many times - the more break material you leave in the kettle, the better your beer will be. Your mileage may vary, void where prohibited. I try to adhere as closely as I can to guidelines like that, within reason and time constraints. Sometimes you just have to do what you have to do. I also made tons of good beer before I ever gave a hoot about break material ;)

If you're strainer is catching most of it and your beer is good - then I'd say you're doing ok.