Hot Break and Cold Break in beer brewing

May 30, 2020
helen

7998
beer brewing

Hot Break and Cold Break in beer brewing

Protein and tannins are the primary constituents of the hot break in the kettle. The hot break is the brown scum that forms on top of the wort as boil approaches and is also known as hot trub. It is formation is aided by the addition of kettle finings, usually extracted from seaweed. Irish moss can be added to the kettle 15minutes before the end of boil, the moss is negatively charged and can attract positively charged proteins in the wort.

Hot break must removed so that the hot wort can be clear. Most commercial brewers whirlpool their wort and leave the hot break behind when the hot wort is moved to the heat exchanger. Other proteins are precipitated by cooling and this material is called cold break.

Cold break is very similar in madeup to hot break except the flocs are much smaller. Opinion is divided on the need to remove this pior to fermentation. Some brewers feel that removal provides cleaner flavor, but cold break contains some unsaturated fatty acids required for yeast nutrition.