Wort Clarification, Cooling, & Oxygenation Flashcards
Hot break
Proteins, polyphenols, lipids, hop residue
-Produced during the boil
Cold break
Finer particles ~55% proteins, ~25% carbohydrates, ~20% polyphenols
-Produced when wort is cooled
-Usually removed from FV, not brewhouse
Trub
Hot and cold break removed as sediment
Why is it important to remove hot break?
-Proteins: Can block filters and cause haze in finished beer
-Polyphenols: lead to astringency, combine with proteins to cause haze
-Lipids: reduce foam stability, cause stale off flavors
-Spent hops & trub: can smother yeast and prevent nutrient uptake
Clarification: Whirlpool
Cylindrical vessel; works with hop pellets and extracts
Clarification: Hop back
Works just like sparge/lauter, but with whole hop cones. Recirc takes longer and wort loss can be higher
Clarification: Hop strainer
Screw conveyor removes whole hops, no trub cone is formed. Whirlpool or centrifuge still necessary.
Clarification: Centrifuge
Removes heavier/denser material from liquids by spinning real fast
Clarification: Sedimentation
Wort left in vessel to allow for sedimentation but like…that takes forever and allows for a lot of contact time with the hops which tastes like butt
Clarification: Coolship
Oldest method in the book. Large shallow open vessel allows trub to settle quickly, but super open to airborne yeast and bacteria. Only suited to sours and spontaneous fermentations.
Kettle Finings
-Negatively charged granulated seaweed bonds with positively charged proteins, stick together and floc out.
-Dissolves at >60°. Added early enough to dissolve, but not so early that they are destroyed
Why oxygenate wort?
Yeast uses O2 to make sterols and fatty acids; which are used to make new membranes-essential for budding and making new cells!
Dissolving oxygen in wort
-Low temps (gases more soluble at lower temperatures)
-High pressure (gases more soluble at higher pressure)
-High surface area
-High turbulence
