Read that a cold break rest of 2 hours is recommended to avoid chill haze.
I have never done this before…how about you?
Nope, never heard of it or done it.
Nope, me neither - would it be done under a CO2 environment or open to O2 pickup? I think getting the yeast working right away would be preferred over a further extended time for settling of the cold break and trub. But, some folks will do that and then rack off the clear wort, so maybe that it what is intended?
Found it here on the BYO website, Conquer Chill Haze - Brew Your Own
I didn’t see a date on that article, but it also recommended a hard boil for an hour which is no longer considered necessary or desirable. It looked to me as if it was an old article, but with no date it is hard to be sure.
Most recipes I see call for 60 minutes, 90 minutes, or longer. We normally do 90 to 120 minute boils. Vigorous rolling boils.
Latest theory is: Vigorous boils do more harm that good. The theory states a simmer to a low asymmetrical boil is all that’s needed.
I remember things like a long rest after chilling being the recommendation a couple decades ago when I was just starting out. I believe the idea was that you had to transfer perfectly clear wort into your FV to get clear beer. I’ve never noticed that to be true and I’ve never been patient enough to let a batch sit that long.
So much has changed in 23 years. I sometimes wonder how we made anything worth drinking in the dark ages.
Paul
Active brewer for 20 years, but took a 10 year vacation. Now back into it, big time. So everything we learned needs to be discarded? No rolling boils? No cold break rest? Cloudy beer in the fermenter is Ok? This is all new to me.
A local brewer in my area makes a big deal out of their fire-brewed, that is, rolling boil beers.
Yes, if you haven’t brewed for a few years, it isn’t too far off to try to simply forget everything you thought you ever knew, and start all over again from scratch. That’s how much the hobby has changed.
+1
I have read this theory many times and it’s been stated in this forum many times. I have been practicing this theory with great success. In fact, I had to adjust the boil-off rate in my software to compensate. The exact reason for the effectiveness of this theory is a mystery to my small mind; I think it might be part of the “science” aspect of this hobby???
The Germans often have flotation tanks where the cold break is allowed the settle for 24 hours, then clear wort goes to the Fermenter, and yeast is pitched.
Martin did a presentation on it at AHA Conference and did an article in Zymurgy. …but bottom line of both: a vigorous boil is detrimental.
I had to adjust recipes as well.
The Low Oxygen brewers also xfer wort to an intermediate vessel to settle out particulates then xfer to FV. I’m not sure they wait 24 hrs but the desired effect is clear wort into the FV.
Many (non LO brewers) believe the trüb causes no harm. Others say it improves the beer.
I recall that the low oxygen brewers condone taking some grub to the fermenter but not all. Thought I read maybe 30% maximum.
Correct me if I am wrong.
For what its worth, I have been builing an Access database of every article in every BYO publication dating back to the July-August, 2013 issue and up to the end of 2019 (I know, I need to get a life) and I can’t find any reference to this article. So, I think its safe to assume this technique might be a bit dated.
I have never done it because I have never had the capacity to do so, i.e. cool quickly to below beer service temperature and maintain cold (and also leave behind the hot and cold break). A combination of kegging and patience does allow my beer to fully clarify in about a month.
German brewers do remove most of the cold trub for a number of reasons. See http://www.lowoxygenbrewing.com/brewing-methods/trub-seperation-why-and-how/ for more details if you’re interested.
That being said, I have never seen any issue with beer clearing due to trub in the fermenter.
It probably doesn’t make that much difference one way or another. I have run my lagers through a centrifuge to remove the hot break post boil (commercial brewing set up) and I have gone so far as to dump cold break. Never noticed any real difference in clarity or flavor (of course, I can get my beers crystal clear with finings and/or centrifuge). In the end it ended up being more hassle than it was worth. I have won several awards with my lagers (and ales!)
Thanks for confirming my hunch. I think there is a lesson here that every article should have a date in it somewhere, at the top or at the bottom.
P.S. This post was written on March 4, 2020