hot and cold break material

[FOAMIN]

Hi All.
I have a question, recently adapted my boiler with a new hop strainer, which was on this site. It incorporates a stainless steel mesh ( circular in shape)around the outlet from the bottom of the boiler. It works well but when I clean the strainer, I can only see hop leaves, no hot break material. I use Protafloc (1 tab/per 25ltrs) swirl the wort at the end of the boil, and leave 10mins to settle, then pump through my plate chiller .On drawing a sample for my gravity, i noticed the wort was very cloudy.The hop strainer seems very good and only leaves about a cup full of wort in the boiler.
Any ideas Cheers Paul. .

[bob downe]

Hi,

I've just posted exactly the opposite experience! I used to use a wire filter but sometimes it blocked. The wort always came out from the boiler quite clear. The flow rate was poor though.

After switching to a 'pipe with holes' type hop filter, the wort was quite cloudy.

That said, after the fermentation, the beer was quite clear. The only difference I noticed was the yeast cake had changed slightly to a more crumbly consistency.

I use Protofloc and the proteins seem to rest on top of the hop leaves as you drain and become less obvious than when in suspension.

I wouldn't worry about it too much.

[FOAMIN]

Hi Bob,
Just thought about this a bit more, the stainless mesh i use is about 12inch diameter, and the mainfold inside sits on the bottom of the boiler, and as i mentioned i pump the wort from it. I presume i am pulling everything through my plate chiller, not sure what effect this will have on the finished beer?

[bob downe]

I am hoping it won't affect the beer beacuase using my latest setup i am also pulling more 'bits/protein/protofloc' into the boiler.

After siphoning into the Keg today, the beer had started to drop clear in the fermenter so I'm not sure it will matter. Beer tasted good before primimg!

[FOAMIN]

Sure it will be ok!Think this thing about protiens is all about clarity in the finished beer? finnings will sort it !

[EoinMag]

If you're worried about the amount of stuff carried over, you can let it sit for a while to settle out and then take it off the crud and pitch the yeast, or you can double drop the wort as has been discussed in another thread here recently, but I think then you need a true top cropper yeast.