Derived from the BJCP Study Guide Additional Information from How To Brew, Brew Your Own, and www.beer- brewing.com Overview • Core questions • T10. What is meant by the terms hot break and cold break? What is happening and why are they important in brewing and the quality of the finished beer? • T9. Discuss the following brewing techniques. How do they affect the beer? – a) kräusening – b) adding gypsum – c) fining Hot Break • Hot break forms during the boil (may take 5-20 minutes to start forming) • The interactions of denatured proteins and simpler nitrogenous constituents with carbohydrates and/or polyphenolic constituents (tannins, flavanols, and anthocyanogens) • Protein clumps form dependent on how much protein is in the wort, use of adjuncts, mashing schedule, vigor of the boil, wort pH and polyphenol presence • Will precipitate out in large groups – Become part of trub • Removal of excess protein can prevent protein haze or other protein induced off-flavors – Some binding of hop contributed polyphenols with the proteins Cold Break • Cold break occurs post-boil • As the clear hot wort is cooled, the previously invisible coagulum loses its solubility and precipitates • Referred to as the cold break and begins forming at about 60°C • Rapid cooling promotes cold break formation • Major cause of chill haze • The cold break mostly consists of protein-polyphenol (tannin) complexes, whereas the hot break is mostly proteinaceous • The cold break also has a higher level of carbohydrates (primarily beta-glucans) than hot break (10) • Highly modified malts yield a higher percentage of polyphenols in cold trub than do less-modified malts, while under-modified malts yield more protein and beta- glucans and relatively fewer polyphenols • Accounts for about 15 to 30% of the total trub material precipitated during cooling and boiling of the wort • The actual amount produced in a given wort depends on numerous factors, such as malt modification, mashing program, wort temperature, the presence of hops, rate of cooling, and the rate of hot break removal • Assisted by Irish Moss (added late in boil) Krausening • Addition of freshly fermenting beer as is often practiced with German lagers. – For bottle conditioned beers, a 250 ml starter is usually added for a five gallon batch along with the sugar; which provides fresh yeast to metabolize the added sugar. • In the case of kräusening, an actively fermenting batch at high kräusen stage is added to the beer being primed. • The volume of kräusen added is 20% by volume of the beer being primed. • Adding this actively-fermenting beer serves two purposes; it carbonates and also helps clean up any off flavors generated from the previous fermentation. Gypsum • Brewing salt - CaSO4 (calcium sulfate) • Adds calcium and sulfate to a beer • Calcium is essential for – Reducing the mash pH to the appropriate range – Keeps oxalate salts in solution (they form haze and gushing if they precipitate) – Reduces the extraction of tannins – Assists in protein coagulation in the hot and cold breaks. • The sulfate (SO4-2) ion accents hop bitterness and dryness at the high concentrations found in the waters at Burton-on-Trent. Fining • Fining is the process of adding chemicals/agents to wort or a finished beer in the fermenter to help speed the flocculation process and promote the settling of haze forming proteins and tannins • Although good clarity can be obtained from simple sedimentation, better results can be obtained in less time by using fining agents • The use of finings is not universal. – They find their widest employment in the United Kingdom with some ale brewers but there has been renewed interest in North America. • Fining agents include isinglass (fish bladders), Polyclar (plastic dust, PVPP), and gelatin (among others) • Isinglass is a traditional "real ale" clarifier used in the United Kingdom, where the style of beer benefits from a 48 hour clarification before or after casking. – It is also used for fining chilled and filtered beers. – Isinglass is a gelatinous substance derived from the internal membranes of fish bladders and comes in many different forms. – The currently accepted mechanism involves a direct interaction of positively charged isinglass with negatively charged yeast to form flocs, which precipitate. – Its effectiveness in settling ale yeast varies with the strain of yeast, and it is generally not recommended for precipitating lager yeast. • Gelatin works similar to Isinglass and is also rich in collagen, but it is not as pure as isinglass and is not as effective at removing yeast. • Polyclar works by latching on to tannins in the protein-tannin reaction. – Known to work on chill haze • Kettle finings like Irish Moss can assist in cold break formation