26 replies to this topic

[Darterboy]

I mentioned this in another thread someplace... wondering if it's actually a GOOD THING that the boil stopped. IIRC, I had about 20 mins left to go when the flame stopped. WHen I got the new tank, I got the temp back up to boiling and proceeded with the last 20 mins... but I noticed all of the break material (some the size of golf balls) that stayed in the boil for the duration. Pretty wild.

FWIW- I just tapped the Vienna that was the beer in question. On this one I had it just starting to boil when I realized I was gonna run out of gas. So I slapped on a lid to hold the temp and headed to U-Haul for more propane. I was gone about 30 minutes and quickly had the wort back to a boil. Hot break from Hell! It looked so many omelettes had been dropped in the kettle!. I thought they would break up in the boil, and they did to some extent but the chunks of protein remained HUGE and settled very rapidly upon chilling.The beer's only been lagering for a week and a half and it's staggeringly clear. It's also delicious. I did manage to cold crash in the carboy a few days before racking to the keg so that may have something to do with it as well. I'm gonna experiment more with this though.

[Darterboy]

I think I'll try a "Hot Break Rest" on my next batch. Bring to a boil, kill the flame, cover and let rest for 30 minutes. Then resume boil, add hops, etc. Doing it at that point won't affect the hop schedule and from the anecdotal evidence in my beer glass, may make for clearer beer. This Vienna is commercially-filtered clear after a short lagering period.

[Thirsty]

My only questioning to this method, is DMS. What if any drawbacks would there be to bringing to boil, then covering and cooling, does DMS factor into this?

[Patrick C.]

He's boiling after the rest, so that should drive off any DMS. On another thought, what about steeping hops for the 30 minutes while the wort sits? Sort of an extra-long first wort hopping.

[Darterboy]

He's boiling after the rest, so that should drive off any DMS. On another thought, what about steeping hops for the 30 minutes while the wort sits? Sort of an extra-long first wort hopping.

I'm still planning on doing my standard boil so DMS shouldn't be a problem. If you were to cover and rest after the boil, DMS could be an issue. So I'll limit my experiments to the beginning of the boil.I think you'd get a lot of isomerization and more bitterness than with FWH. I'll stick to the standard hopping regime.Just to be clear, I'm not recommending that anyone do this or that it will have any positive effect on your beer. I'm going to experiment to confirm or deny my hunch. Just because the chunks of protein are bigger doesn't mean more protein is precipitating and there's still the cold break to consider. It will have to be a very positive result if I'm going to consistently add 30-45 minutes to my brewday. I'll report back when I have more experience to base a conclusion on.

[ChefLamont]

That will be an interesting experiment! Its not all that often we get to try a "new concept" like this.

[orudis]

Hot break from my last partigyle brew: