Hot break and boil times (pictures)

[agentgonzo]

I'm trying to figure out if I'm doing stuff correctly. According to David Line's book, you need to boil the wort until the proteinous matter coagulates into small matchstick-head-sized lumps. I never seem to get that. Here's a collection of pictures taken at 5 minute intervals towards the end of my boil (90' in total), so from about 50 minutes onwards until flameout.

Does this look like I've boiled long enough. The protein flecs don't seem to be the size of matchstick heads.

[Whorst]

Looks good. Once the wort is cool, that stuff will be at the bottom of your kettle.

[Aleman]

That's flocc'ing really well . . . If you leave it to cool properly it will form bigger clumps . . . and settle well leaving clear wort behind.

Its nice to see a set of pictures that show the real hot break as its forming

[hoppingMad]

Yep, thats it Gonzo ! Great pix. And thanx for using a nice glass for us to look at, that shows class.

[agentgonzo]

Would it have benefitted much if I'd have let it boil more, or do you think that break is sufficient?

As for the wine glass - it seemed to make sense. It's a small glass that you can hold by the stem so that you don't burn your fingers on the scalding wort!

[stevezx7r]

Looks fine to me, I use a wine glass to check my beer - only thing it's good for in my house.