What are these flakes in my boil?

[PorterGlenn]

So whenever I brew beer, everytime without fail, I get these little flakes that seem to be LME. I assume they are LME as they dont showup until after the LME is added, which I do all at once just before boil.

I took a picture of them and they look like this.

They go away, or at least other stuff is churned up and you cant see them if I stir everything. Also if I wait longer inbetween stir sessions they get bigger.

Does anyone have any idea what this is, and is it hurting the beer in any way? If it is hurting the beer, what do I need to do to prevent it?

 

[geoffm33]

Replying to subscribe.

I brewed last night and it was the first time I noticed it. I used LME and DME so I thought it was the DME since it was the first time I'd used it.

 

[PorterGlenn]

Also I recently made a 5 gallon batch, where I steeped the grains and then added the LME (at this point nothing had boiled) and let sit in my bottling bucket. Then I got one gallon out at a time through the spicket at the bottom of the bottling bucket, and made five 1 gallon batches but just boiling them with different hops.

You can read about this experiment on the other forum post:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/10-single-hop-mini-batches-need-advice-409998/

Anyways the picture above is from the first 1 gallon smaller batch. I noticed that batches 4 and 5 (I was not stiring the 'master wort' in the bottling bucket before using the spicket to get batches 2 - 5 out of the bottling bucket, and 3 maybe 4 hours passed from small batch 1 to small batch 5) did not have this issue with the flakes, I think all this stuff settled to the bottom under my spicket. Thoughts?

How much difference between small batch 1 and small batch 5 will there be with some of this "flakey LME?" settled out of small batch 5 will there be? (assuming everything else was constant)

***It deffinetly did settle, I had about a half gallon left in the bottling bucket that I boiled to make a really small batch. There were no hops for this batch so I just boiled it and added yeast. Anyways I wasnt really paying attention to it, so I wanst really stiring it and these flakes were in as well. This was effectively small batch 6 at the bottom, 4 hours after the first batch pictured above, and the flakes got to be the size of nickles?

 

[PorterGlenn]

I brewed last night and it was the first time I noticed it. I used LME and DME so I thought it was the DME since it was the first time I'd used it.

I guess that this could be caused by DME as well as LME, but I have never used DME and I notice this every time. Like mentioned above it gets worse the less I stir?

 

[unionrdr]

Looks like you got a good hot break to me. That's dissolved protiens coagulating out of solution. Either strain it out going into the fermenter,or it'll settle out in the FV. You also get a good cold break like that if you chill the hot wort down quickly.

 

[Revvy]

Union's right it's break material. Depending on the proteins present in the grainbill it can look all manner of ways. A lot of pilsner produces a break that looks like egg drop soup.

 

[geoffm33]

Excellent, thanks!

 

[KeystoneHomebrew]

It makes no difference how you brew, it's completely normal. Union hit the nail on the head. Just letting the kettle sit for an extra 5 minutes after chilling usually makes them cake at the bottom, and I just siphon or drain around it.

Aaron

 

[PorterGlenn]

It makes no difference how you brew, it's completely normal. Union hit the nail on the head. Just letting the kettle sit for an extra 5 minutes after chilling usually makes them cake at the bottom, and I just siphon or drain around it.

Perhapse I am not entirely understanding, it sounds like this is deffinetly a normal thing and either straining it, or letting it sit after cooling and then siphoning to primary rather than dumping into the primary will get the vast bulk of this out of your beer.

Does this stuff hurt the beer in any way, should I be attempting to get it out of the beer? I just dump all this stuff, and everything else in my boil pot, into the primary should I be more careful to strain and shiphon this stuff out of the beer?

If this hotbreak is bad for the beer what are the negative side effects? Or am I completely off base and this is actually good for the beer?

Thanks for helping me make sense of this

 

[unionrdr]

Many of us whirlpool or strain it out. I like to strain everything going into the FV. Pouring in a circular motion makes the liquid come out the strainer like rain,aerating the wort at the same time. Leaves less trub to compact on the bottom of primary,leaving more clear beer to siphon off. Getting these protiens out of the beer (breal material) leaves less to make chill haze later.

 

[PorterGlenn]

I appriciate all the advice, however I am still not sure if the hot break is actually bad for the beer. I attempted to do some research on my own and the only thing I really came up with was that it can lead to, or cause an over boil, which is a pain, but are their any other side effects?

Will it create any off flavors in the beer?

I generally dont have issues with boil overs, so if this is the only issue I dont think I will start straining and adding an extra step in my process. However if this is effecting my taste I will add an addition 15 steps if necessary

 

[unionrdr]

Not really off flavors,but it can make beer cloudy & not quite as clean & crisp tasting in my view. So getting a good hot & cold break,& straining it out is good for the beer I think.

 

[Yooper]

Perhapse I am not entirely understanding, it sounds like this is deffinetly a normal thing and either straining it, or letting it sit after cooling and then siphoning to primary rather than dumping into the primary will get the vast bulk of this out of your beer.

Does this stuff hurt the beer in any way, should I be attempting to get it out of the beer? I just dump all this stuff, and everything else in my boil pot, into the primary should I be more careful to strain and shiphon this stuff out of the beer?

If this hotbreak is bad for the beer what are the negative side effects? Or am I completely off base and this is actually good for the beer?

Thanks for helping me make sense of this

It's fine. If you don't strain it out (I don't) it settles out in the end with the rest of the trub and compacts down.

My beer is always ultra clear, without off flavors, and I don't have a way to strain out hot break (or cold break) in my system.

 

[KeystoneHomebrew]

This really is a question that homebrewers debate often.

For the facts. Once break material is out, it's not going back in. It makes no difference if you strain it, punch it, yell at it, or filter it. It will not affect the flavor of the beer. But clarity....it could.

Now, the catch to that. Break material is very fluffy. And unless you give it a good cold crash, it is going to get tossed up like yeast in a wheat beer bottle being rolled around. Simple care and being "gingerly" with your fermenters can solve that problem.