filtering cold break

Rezzin · Post by **Rezzin** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 12:55 pm

I've searched but I can't seem to find anything out there so I figured I try here.

I use an IC to chill my wort and to date, I've always just transfered whatever was in the kettle into the carboy - hops, cold break, and all. I bought a Hopstopper a while back but it didn't help and so I thought it was because I was using all hop pellets. Well, it looks as if it's not so much the pellets as it is the cold break. I just started using a paint strainer bag to keep the pellet junk out but I it would be great if I could leave the cold break behind too.

Is there are good method to filtering out the cold break w/o getting a clog?

With ales, my beers have all seemed to be just fine pulling everything over but my attempts at lagers were less than stellar. Looking back at my notes, I did a Munich Helles the middle of last year using WLP830. I cooled the wort to 57 (ran outta ice) and then pitched the yeast and then cooled to 48, the ferment was kept at 50-52 for the remainder of the time. Perhaps my mistake with this batch was I continued to cool after pitching the yeast at 57.

Post by **brahn** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 1:40 pm

I use a "hop taco" which looks basically the same as the Hopstopper. I got the idea and instructions here: http://kotmf.com/articles/hoptaco.php. This works great and I've never had any issues with clogging from pellet hops or cold break. Some of the break material gets through the strainer and into the fermenter, but that really doesn't bother me. If it bothers you let the wort sit for 12-24 hours and rack again before pitching your yeast. From what I've read and heard from Chris White (I think), the break material is actually benfeficial to yeast health.

Rezzin · Post by **Rezzin** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 1:47 pm

So I'm assuming you use an IC as well? If using an IC, I wonder if the screen mesh is just simply larger than what comes with the hopstopper? Yeah, a little cold break won't bother me but I'd like to be able to throw everything into the boil and transfer to my carboy with minimal hop/break material. From most of what I read, doing this produces a cleaner tasting beer.

Are you going to be at the brewday next month? Perhaps you can bring it to the meeting so I can compare the screens.

Post by **brahn** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 2:07 pm

Yup, IC for me too. Yes, I'm planning to bring my kettle and burner to the next brewday so you can check it out there. I haven't had any problems racking to my fermenter since I switched to this setup last summer. I just open the ball valve and let it go.

Brent

backyard brewer · Post by **backyard brewer** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 2:29 pm

I use an IC and a pump and I whirlpool. I get a nice big pile of hops and break in the center of my kettle and that seems to help. Has Brahn pointed out, some break material is beneficial so don't be overly concerned. The only time I remove break is if I'm brewing a delicate lager AND I remember to do it.

I just open the bottom dump valve and drop it right out.

bwarbiany · Post by **bwarbiany** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 3:10 pm

I just bought a counterflow chiller, so obviously I'm not going to be filtering cold break. But we're looking at building a Hop Taco. How much of the material that's usually there after chilling is cold break, and how much of it will be filtered by the hop taco before the heat hits it?

spkrtoy · Post by **spkrtoy** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 3:26 pm

Brad,
I took a look at the pics of the hoptaco and it looks like it catches damn near all of it. Keep in mind that their club system's 50 gallons so trying to fit one of those in a 15 gallon keg probably won't work so well unless you turn it so the flat part is on the bottom and make it into a baloon.

I may investigate this for my BrewTree as my outlet's welded into the bottom 1/3 of the keggle and I always clog 1 of my 2 counterflow chillers and it's pissing me off royaly! I'd rather not go to an IC and have to siphon the wort out. Ah hell, tinkerin's the life of a homebrewer

Rezzin · Post by **Rezzin** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 3:27 pm

Backyard Brewer wrote:I use an IC and a pump and I whirlpool. I get a nice big pile of hops and break in the center of my kettle and that seems to help. Has Brahn pointed out, some break material is beneficial so don't be overly concerned. The only time I remove break is if I'm brewing a delicate lager AND I remember to do it. I just open the bottom dump valve and drop it right out.

How long do you wait before draining the kettle? I"ve tried the whirlpool thing but I've never gotten a cone to form - it just settles into a layer. I only tried it once or twice and I think I waited like 15 minutes. I just figured the out port piece was causing turbulence.

Post by **brahn** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 3:34 pm

I use a 15G polarware kettle with my hop taco. It's wider and shorter than a keggle. I don't see any reason that the hop taco wouldn't work just fine in the keggle though. You can always use a different size mesh screen when building it, that's part of the advantage of making one yourself.

My hop taco lets a pretty small amount of break material through, but since I've started using the paint stirrer to aerate in the kettle I notice I get more break material in the fermenter. I figure this is probably due to it getting broken up by the paint stirrer. It all settles out during fermentation and I haven't noticed any adverse effects on the final beer.

Brent

backyard brewer · Post by **backyard brewer** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 3:55 pm

I wait about 15 minutes and I have decent results. My IC is designed to fit close to the ID of my kettle and the outlet for my return is inside the ID of the IC. The IC also acts like a dam of sorts.

If you are using a CFC, there is almost not way to keep cold break out of the fermenter because little to none will have formed in your kettle. You will get a lot of cold break though. Cold break formation is proprtionate to how fast you can shock the wort and just how cold you can get it.

BrewMasterBrad · Post by **BrewMasterBrad** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 5:29 pm

I use the IC/whirlpool method. I after I reach my target temp (or a little cooler) I turn my pump off and let the break material settle to the bottom of the kettle. This takes about 30 minutes. I then use an autosiphon to move the wort into my carboy. This allows me to regulate how much break material makes it into my carboy by adjusting the height of the siphon pickup.

Brad