Author: Phil Rusher
One of the main steps in the brewing process involves boiling the wort for a certain amount of time, usually between 60 and 90 minutes, during which numerous things happen. In addition to driving off the DMS precursor and isomerizing alpha acids from hops, it’s during the boil a curious reaction takes place that is known to keep brewers on their toes.
As wort temperature rises, proteins and polyphenols that are naturally present in grains begin to clump together to form what brewers refer to as the hot break. Typically, the first signs of the hot break occur just before the a boil is reached, at which point a thick foamy cap develops atop the wort that, if left unchecked, can lead to a sticky boil-over. As the boil really gets going, this foam reintegrates into the wort and begins to coagulate into visibly large chunks, leading to the appearance of egg drop soup. When the boil is complete, these chunks fall out of solution, along with cold break material, to form a layer of kettle trub that can more readily be avoided when transferring to a fermentor.
It’s safe to say most brewers view hot break as a normal part of the brewing process and only focus on its removal once the boil is complete. However, there’s been some talk about the potential benefits of scooping the foamy substance off the wort at the beginning of the boil. Curious of the impact this simple yet seemingly rarely employed method has on beer, I put it to the test!
| PURPOSE |
To evaluate the differences between a beer made with the hot break removed at the beginning of the boil and one made without the hot break being removed.
| METHODS |
In order to showcase the variable, I wanted to make a relatively simple Munich Helles with hop additions made well after the beginning of the boil.
Dibs
Recipe Details
| Batch Size | Boil Time | IBU | SRM | Est. OG | Est. FG | ABV |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5.5 gal | 60 min | 20.8 IBUs | 4.9 SRM | 1.048 | 1.012 | 4.7 % |
| Actuals | 1.048 | 1.01 | 5.1 % | |||
Fermentables
| Name | Amount | % |
|---|---|---|
| Pelton Pilsner-style Malt (Mecca Grade) | 8.5 lbs | 82.93 |
| Metolius Munich-style Malt (Mecca Grade) | 1.5 lbs | 14.63 |
| Opal 22 Graham & Cocoa Malt (Mecca Grade) | 4 oz | 2.44 |
Hops
| Name | Amount | Time | Use | Form | Alpha % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hallertau Magnum | 15 g | 50 min | Boil | Pellet | 13.2 |
Yeast
| Name | Lab | Attenuation | Temperature |
|---|---|---|---|
| Harvest (L17) | Imperial Yeast | 72% | 50°F - 60°F |
Notes
| Water Profile: Ca 53 | Mg 0 | Na 30 | SO4 75 | Cl 75 |
Download
| Download this recipe's BeerXML file |
I started things off by collecting the proper volume of RO water a couple days ahead of time.
I also threw together a starter of Imperial Yeast L17 Harvest.
The next day, I adjusted the water to my desired profile and began heating up before moving on to milling identical sets of grain for each batch.
With the water adequately heated, I mashed in and set each Grainfather to maintain the same 152°F/67°C.
While waiting on the mash, I weighed out the kettle hop additions.
Following the 60 minute saccharification rest, I removed the grains, sparged, then set the controller to heat the wort up. Just before reaching a boil, I used a sieve to remove as much of the creamy foam forming atop one of the batches of wort as I could. The other batch was left alone.
As expected, the batch where the hot break wasn’t removed initially foamed up a bit before mostly reintegrating back into the wort. At the completion of each 60 minute boil, the wort was quickly chilled.
Refractometer readings showed both worts achieved the same 1.048 OG (11.8 °Bx).
Equal volumes of wort were then racked to identical fermentation vessels that I placed next to each other in my chamber controlled to 64°F/18°C before pitching the yeast.
After 10 days of fermentation, I took hydrometer measurements confirming both had reached the same 1.010 FG.
As I prepared to package the beers, I noticed the difference in trub levels lining the bottom of each fermentor wasn’t as stark as I expected (the color difference is due to lighting).
I proceeded with transferring the beers to separate CO2 purged kegs.
The filled kegs were placed in my cool keezer and burst carbonated. After a couple weeks of cold conditioning, both were ready to serve.
| RESULTS |
A total of 45 people of varying levels of experience participated in this xBmt. Each participant was served 1 sample of the beer made with the hot break removed and 2 samples of the beer made with the hot break remaining in the wort in different colored opaque cups then asked to identify the unique sample. While 21 tasters (p<0.05) would have had to identify the unique sample in order to reach statistical significance, only 18 (p=0.21) made the accurate selection, indicating participants in this xBmt could not reliably distinguish a beer made with the hot break removed during the boil from one where the hot break was not removed.
My Impressions: Aside from their slight difference in clarity, I perceive these beers as being remarkably similar, so much so that I relied on guessing in my own triangle test attempts. To my palate, both beers were cleanly fermented with a biscuity character and notes of sweet graininess. Perhaps because I knew exactly how the beers were made, I convinced myself they had mild amounts of graham cracker flavor as well, which I attribute to the dash of Mecca Grade Opal 22.
| DISCUSSION |
While the amount may vary depending on the ingredients and processes used, hot break formation will occur as wort boils. Amounting to a minor nuisance for those with smaller kettles, some brewers actually believe the reintegration of this mixture of protein and polyphenols can have a negative effect on beer quality, hence their recommendation to remove it. The fact tasters in this xBmt were unable to reliably distinguish a beer made with the hot break removed from one where the hot break was left in the wort suggests it has little perceptible impact.
Moreover, some proponents of hot break removal claim doing so leads to clearer wort and thus clearer beer, which makes intuitive sense, though observable results from this xBmt suggest the opposite is true. This aligns with results from a previous xBmt on kettle trub presence during fermentation that demonstrated a beer fermented with a high amount of trub ended up being clearer than one fermented with minimal trub. Some have also speculated that removing the hot break could affect body and foam retention, neither of which I detected between these two beers.
I tend to go through life thinking less is more, and that is almost always my mantra when it comes to brewing. In all of the beers I’ve made over the years, I’ve never once removed the hot break before this one, and given my inability to tell the difference, I don’t see myself adding this extra, somewhat laborious step to my normal brewing practice.
If you have any thoughts about this xBmt, please do not hesitate to share in the comments section below!
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24 thoughts on “exBEERiment | Impact Removing Hot Break During The Boil Has On Munich Helles”
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Only when making no chill, I tend to remove hot break before boil in a hope to minimize final trub as well as to get better clarity.
I’m not certain that’s the best approach to getting a clearer beer. In my own experience I’ve noticed that beers I’ve made with high amounts of trub in the FV end up being brighter than those that do not have high amounts of trub. What’s more is that we’ve shown here that having healthy amount of trub in the FV can lead to a clearer beer as well. Try it out for yourself!
https://brulosophy.com/2014/06/02/the-great-trub-exbeeriment-results-are-in/
Well damn. I did it because I read a sciency thing that said it improved clarity. Professional chefs also remove this stuff for the same reasons: clarity of broths.
Let me add one more caveat to this, though: In my research of kveik yeast, the Norwegians skim the crud, too. They call this “Removing the headache.” So I wonder if there is something to the headache part of this? This will require substantial research all in one evening on your part.
> clarity of broths
Beer clarity vs soup clarity (future xbmt…can tasters tell the difference between soup and beer???) are just fundamentally different situations because there is no fermentation in soup preparation, you’re simply serving broth and what have you after you cook it. Here we have a range of biological organisms going to work on the wort content, kettle trub included, for a length of time before racking the finished beer off the trub.
>…substantial research…
Yeah, I’ll get right on that. 😉
For serious though, I know absolutely nothing about what the Nords are doing with Kveik, though I’ve heard people reference the headache thing. Maybe someone else who drinks and knows things can chime in.
“Drinks and knows things.” I see what you did there.
“soup clarity are just fundamentally different situations”
Supposedly, it accomplishes the same thing: Removing proteins that cause haze. In the case of broths, the proteins (similar to egg whites) break up an cause cloudiness. A quick googling indicates that this is also a contentious subject. 😉
I even read something somewhere that a large percentage of the haze proteins are contained in that goop. Can’t find the damn thing now but it made sense at the time so was gospel until you challenged my faith here!
I use this step mainly because it helps to avoid a boil over especially when adding the first hop addition.
First wort hopping helps here. And it’s thanks to Brülosophy that I learned about first wort hopping.
In Palmer’s “How to Brew”, he has a throw-away statement that cloudy beer is linked to long-term stability issues, but that it’s otherwise just an aesthetic issue. If the only result of skimming the hot break is that the beer is clearer, then it probably won’t matter if you skim off the hot break until the beer is older. Of course, for many of us, the beer doesn’t last long enough to have “long-term stability issues”. 😉
Sure, it is true that flavor stability will suffer in hazy beers with particulates. It is also true that skimming the break material out will produce a clearer wort, but there does not seem to be a correlation with removing hot break and clearer beer. In fact, we have data that suggests an opposite correlative effect where if one were to leave the hot break and transfer cloudy/truby wort to the FV, the resultant beer would be clearer.
https://brulosophy.com/2014/06/02/the-great-trub-exbeeriment-results-are-in/
I always remove the hot break, for 2 reasons. First, I don’t like using Foam cap S to avoid boil over, because a product that stay in the beer, so be removing the hot break to avoid boil over. Second thing, I use a Hop Mesh, and i found that the hot break stick to the mesh and block the wort circulation. (Brewing with the Grainfather)
I think commercial brewers remove hot break by letting it settle out after boiling–in the “whirlpool”, hop back, or whatever you want to call it. It might make a difference in a pale American lager. But probably not in a beer that has any taste to it.
I have done both, literally hundreds of times and can’t tell the difference. Where I would expect to see a difference is if you can not oxygenate you wort the fatty acids are helpful, and I would expect the package stability to be worse.
Mecca Grade Much??
Envious of your grain library
I know. It’s a thing of beauty!
Tried it on my hefe’s before and found no difference. Skimming the high krausen though has produced a smoother beer.
Skimming High Krausen you’d be skimming away your yeast then?
Somewhat, yes. He’s referring to a technique known as Braun Hefe. Stay tuned…
Many thanks for the exbeeriment Phil, much appreciated!
I have taken to removing some hot break as the boil begins if I don’t have anything else to do at the time, skimming not the really foamy stuff but the darker clumpier bits that are easier to collect, with a similar but smaller sieve. I also then circulate wort during much of the boil through my stainless hop spider, which I suppose helps hop utilisation but also seems to filter out break as the hops and the spider form a break filter.
During the boil the spider clogs up with break and starts to overflow. At that point I often take out the spider, shake out the hops and then rinse the spider with a garden hose, and put it back in to filter some more and may hose it out another couple of times, depending on malt bill size.
I do this usually because it’s not much effort, plus I’m not doing anything else to take up my time, but mainly because I have found the resultant hot break/trub amount after the stand is significantly smaller. This means I can rack more wort to the no-chill cube, leaving less waste behind. I used to waste about 3L, but using this method only 1.5 to 2L is left behind. I suppose that effort increases my BH efficiency (I like efficiency) and produces another 3 to 6 tasty beers for the enjoyment of all concerned 🙂
I do rack over a bit of trub and don’t mind doing this as I think it could contain some beneficial compounds for both yeast health and clarity, and haven’t noticed any clarity problems. (the main improvement in clarity, mainly chill haze, has come from my protein rest which I do because I can easily do that with my HERM-IT coil system, a coil that runs in a kitchen kettle)
Thanks for the kind words! I’m glad you found a way to get as much out of your system as you can.
According to research found my Janish, the foam might be a concentrate of the DMS before the boil evaporation carries it off so might be worth skimming that too! https://scottjanish.com/how-to-prevent-dms-in-beer/
In old tradition ale making in Norway, the hot break was called ” the headache”.,,and should be removed. In old soups etc the same happens,,and any good olf fashioned chef skims the soups as well.(soup don,t give headache though…) 😉
I think you’re undervaluing the very important dimension of “Something nominally productive to do while you’re waiting around”.
Not just for homebrewers…I think a _huge_ number of the “received wisdoms” you’ve discredited here come down to “a few smart people, standing around with nothing to do for a while”.
I suppose this depends on what one believes “productive” is.