Recycling wort during Mash

I allways recycle the wort at the end of the mash to eliminate unwanted grain matter in the boil :thumb: but it occured to me that maybe i should do the same at the end of the boil, i use a hop strainer so will I benifit from this & does anybody else do this? how long do you let trub settle befor chilling?

recirculating the runnings from the tun is generally common practise... so nice one :)

with the time it takes to chill, that's about enough time to let the trub settle. some people recirculate the hopped wort whilst it's chilling, to aid cooling and also to aid in clarity as the trub will get filtered through the hop bed be careful not to let it splash about too much until it's down to temperature

it's something i'm looking into doing on my boiler at some point :thumb:

Thanks for that Brewstew why is it important not to splash at this point?

it's called "Hot Side Aeration", which can add an off flavour

it's caused if you splash the wort around too much (but a little bit is ok ) when it comes out of the tun.

once it's cooled to the right temperature, you can then go mad and give it a thrashing with a spoon or mash paddle :thumb:

I thought hot side aeration was a load of cobblers :wha: I've never suffered from it!

i've had one regular with the same malt bill but different hops have a burnt twang... in my notes it said "ran wort at full throttle from the tun and got lots of foam"

i reckon the "burnt twang" was hot side aeration :hmm:

I remain unconvinced about HSA - i've read that it's a myth and also read that it's real :hmm:

From my own personal experience I've never noticed a problem and I have to splash hot wort as part of my brewing process.

I think it's supposed to taste like wet cardboard or stale certainly not a burnt taste , that sounds more like Autolysis

BrewStew said:

it's called "Hot Side Aeration", which can add an off flavour

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Hot side aeration is NOT caused by splashing wort around after/during the boil!!!! The critical time for HSA is during the mash, and is something to do with excessive oxidation of lipids which can occur at this time . . .. later on in the process (generally during storage after packaging) redox reactions take place that cause the production of trans 2 Nonenal (Wet Cardboard taste / aroma)

You are extremely unlikely to encounter t2n in British home brew all the lit I have read generally concerns pale US style American Standard Beers where any off flavour is instantly recognisable. and pretty much can be traced back to poor quality 6 row malt with high levels of lipids . . . In the UK we don't use 6 row barley, and certainly not large qtys of corn (also high in lipids). Also beers containing even moderate amounts of darker malts (crystal upwards) contain lots of natural anti oxidants, and these act as alternative pathways for any redox reactions caused through excessive oxygen uptake during the mash

what's autolysis caused by again?

cos the only note (and from memory) was rushing the run off :hmm:

@ Aleman.... damn.. smack me down with a big stick for being wrong why dont ya :rofl: ... so what could that "burnt" taste be ?

The enzymatic digestion of cells by enzymes present within them. The cells most susceptible to autolysis tend to be dying or dead cells

BrewStew said:

what's autolysis caused by again?

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Yeasties giving up the ghost and dying . . . . . only had it the once, and burnt rubber describes it really well. . . . . I didn't get as far as tasting :sick:

BrewStew said:

@ Aleman.... damn.. smack me down with a big stick for being wrong why dont ya :rofl: ... ?

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HSA is a pet hate topic of mine . . .. It does exist . . . but people(*) have made so much of it that its become 'any' splashing of even slightly warm wort has ruined the batch :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: We are bloody unlikely to experience it here in the UK . . . although I do know of one home brewer that has



(*) Our American colonists

mmm it definitely wasn't burnt rubber.. it was more like when you've left a leg of chicken on a BBQ too long... you can taste the chicken, but it's overtoned by that carbon taste :lol:

Yeasties giving up the ghost and dying

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ahh yes my memory is coming back into action now (aided by my notes amd given that i'm 8 pints of FugTard down atm :lol: ) it can't be that .... it was in the fermenter 5 days at 21'c according to my notes :hmm:

Was the wort or the air temperature 21 c? i tend to keep the wort under 20 which usually means the air temperature is 17 or 18c

BrewStew said:

... so what could that "burnt" taste be ?

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Could it be something as simple as the taste of burning :wha:
It doesn't take a lot to get something stuck to a heating element and start to caramelise and a little bit of burnt taste goes a long way

but it occured to me that maybe i should do the same at the end of the boil, i use a hop strainer so will I benifit from this & does anybody else do this? how long do you let trub settle befor chilling?

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I think you're refering to the hot break, refering to 'before chilling'.

The first thing you've got to ask is why am I doing it?
Secondly, what am I going to gain from it?
And thirdly, will I notice the difference between not doing it, and doing it ?

There are a couple of variables to throw in to boot...

Do you use whole hop cones or pellets ?
Do you want to leave the hot and cold break behind, hot break is genearlly filtered by a whole hop filter, cold break can be more aloof, and with hop pellets you stand little chance of stopping both from getting into the fv, depending on what size screen you use.

FWIW, I have found cold break in the fv to have little affect on the finished beer. Hot break however can impart various flavour 'faults' which can be tasted easily if it is carried to the fv.

Good practice would dictate that hot and cold break should be left behind in the kettle, or removed via some other method. I have found that even with a very deep hop cone bed, cold break will get through in some amount. Some cold break getting through may actually be beneficial to the active yeast, which may utilise some of the elements it contains

None of this is a problem as long as your beer tastes great :thumb:

My practice at the moment is to carry the cold break to the fv. It may 'pin down' some of the yeast as it settles at the start of fermentation, but in general, I'm happy that it doesn't affect the taste of my beer, to my taste anyway.

Brewmarc said:

I allways recycle the wort at the end of the mash to eliminate unwanted grain matter in the boil :thumb: but it occured to me that maybe i should do the same at the end of the boil, i use a hop strainer so will I benifit from this & does anybody else do this? how long do you let trub settle befor chilling?

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I tried this once.....got bored waiting for the wort to reach temperature took about an hour through my CFC and back into the boiler...and was still 40C ...So gave up as it was about 2am.

...My CFC run normally (once through) will chill 40 litres from 90C to 20C in less than 30mins.

Good luck :)

Oh and I didn't notice any difference in trub carry over.

What I do now is pump the wort from boiler to (empty) HLT via my CFC and then put the lid on over night and then open the tap of the HLT next morning to fill up the FV with beautiful clear wort, leaving about 25mm of trub in the HLT.