Beer Forum

After reading the lengthy thread regarding boil size, I noticed some comments about leaving the cold break material in the kettle and not allowing it to transfer to the fermenter. I never knew this was an issue, in fact I thought I needed all that material to be in the ferementer for the beer to develop. I thought it was primarily hops. I am speaking of extract brewing, with only specialty grain steeping. Thanks for any insight.

As far as the hop material that is in the kettle, it's pretty much used up at that point. You won't get anymore isomerization, and probably little aroma, but you do pick up some vegetal flavor from them. The proteins and "stuff" that are the rest of the material can lead to some aging issues if the beer stays on it too long(I think that's the cold break) as well as potential off flavors.

Since starting to use my keggle, I have been pulling cleaner wort to the fermenter and the beers have been a bit more stable, I've also gotten rid of a some of the vegetal flavors I used to pick up from the hops sitting. I do allow some of the material to flow through with the thought that the yeast will use some for animo acids etc. Also pulling less hop material makes blowing off an airlock from getting clogged with hops less likely, if you haven't seen that think hop shotgun from the waist level to the ceiling.

Eltharyon wrote: I have been pulling cleaner wort to the fermenter and the beers have been a bit more stable, I've also gotten rid of a some of the vegetal flavors I used to pick up from the hops sitting. I do allow some of the material to flow through with the thought that the yeast will use some for animo acids etc.

Agreed ..... I brewed a Helles and had a lousy transfer from my kettle to my carboy -- lots of hop material settled out in the bottom and i was too lazy to rack it off the trub into a new fermenter. Paid the price. Drinkable, but something was "off" and I believe it was a vegetal flavor from the hops.

Eltharyon wrote:. . . . . . if you haven't seen that think hop shotgun from the waist level to the ceiling.

???????