Flameout sounds like an interesting superhero reference (or was it flame on?) anyways, in brewing it can be a critical point where time is not on the brewers side. After Brewing many years I have come to realize this is a very hectic time where you need to cool the wort as fast as you can.
Flameout is a brewing reference used to describe when you turn off the heat source after cooking your wort. At this point your wort will stop boiling and its time to cool the liquid. During this time additional ingredients can also be added.
Recently flameout has become big in brewing, alongside whirlpooling hops. While some homebrew recipes will say to add specific ingredients, ever more recipes are calling for a whirlpool hop addition.
Flameout is an Important Time
Flameout is an interesting term, especially if you are reading this while brewing on an electric stove. I mean an electric stove doesn’t have a flame last time I checked, so its kind of hard to understand the reference.
In reality flameout really refers to the gas burners that a lot of homebrewers use. Once 60 minutes is up and the cooking is over its time to turn off the heat and begin cooling the wort. It’s important to cool the wort quickly.
Dimethyl sulfide
When wort boils it produces dimethyl sulfide, this is boiled off when at a boil, but after the wort has stopped boiling, the heat is still producing more dimethyl sulfide. You need to cool the wort quickly so an excess of dimethyl sulfide is not produced that will stay in the beer.
The longer it takes to cool your wort the more dimethyl sulfide will stay in the beer and the higher chance your beer will not taste great. It really is a race against time, but don’t stress yourself out too much.
Hop Additions
Flameout has become an incredibly opportune time to add hops. Because the longer hops are in boiling wort the more bitter they become. Tossing hops in at cooler temperatures preserves oils that produce aroma and fruity flavors.
When you add hops at the beginning or middle of a boil, the hops undergo a bittering transformation. This is where the bitter flavor of beer comes from. Many people would rather not have this hoppy bitterness though so flameout is an important time for additions.
How Long to Keep Hops at Flameout
Some recipes say to add hops at flameout, but sometimes it can be confusing as to how long you actually leave them in there. The answer to this is typically to leave them in until you put the wort into the fermentor.
Even at the point of putting the wort into the fermentor you can even pour the hop sludge in there too. We have done it many times and it does not affect the beer negatively.
The most that will happen is the hop sludge will make its way to the bottom and contribute to the trub (gunk at the bottom of the fermentor). This trub is basically made up of hop sludge, yeast and grain particles. Its a normal part of brewing, and while it may look disgusting its perfectly normal.
Whirlpooling Hops
Recently NEIPA also known as hazy IPA’s have become a big part of post boil recipe changes. Hops are typically added after flameout. But it gets a bit tricky, you cant just toss the hops in immediately you have to cool the liquid to a point below 180 degrees Fahrenheit.
Decreasing the temperature below 180 will ensure that the oils in the hops do not undergo chemical changes that take away from the aroma and flavor.
In order to whirlpool hops after flameout you will need to take the pot away from the heat source. The reason is the heat source will still be emitting residual heat. Flameout rapidly decreases heat, but does not completely dissipate it.
Once you take the pot away from the heat source it should rapidly start cooling and should not take long to hit 180 degrees. Once it reaches this point simply take a sanitized spoon and spin the beer.
When the liquid has a nice spin going throw in the hops and watch the foamy fun begin. Typically you will need to let the hops sit for 10-20 minutes before the wort is fully chilled and put in the fermentor.
Hop Stand (Cooling Wort While Whirlpooling)
Sounds a bit silly, are the hops doing a hand stand? What does a hop stand mean exactly?
Well its actually pretty simple, a hop stand simply means letting the hops sit for a while before actively trying to cool them down. The reason that you want to let the hops sit for a bit is to mimic how the large breweries do it.
In reality the large breweries are not trying to let their hops sit at a temperature for a specific amount of time. They are actively trying to cool it. They just have such a large volume that they need to run through a chiller so they begin right away.
Since homebrewers are working with a smaller amount of liquid that is easier to cool, they need to let the hops sit in the whirlpool for a length of time to extract the oils from the hops into the wort.
At these temperatures the hops are not producing bitter tastes but the oils still need to be extracted from the hops.
If you are curious about what this looks like and how to make a great hazy IPA check out this YouTube video from clawhammer supply.
Clawhammer uses a hop basket which can lesson the amount of hop trub that you get into your fermentor. This can either be good or bad depending on what you are going for. Sometimes the hops can get clumped up in the hop basket and not fully circulate the oils into the wort.
Ingredients Besides Hops
Hops are not the only ingredient you can add at flameout. There are also delicate herbs that can be added at this time. Some herbs include:
- Basil
- Cilantro
- Coffee Beans
- Cocoa Nibs
- Lemongrass
- Ginger
The reason you will want to add these herbs at flameout is because they impart their flavors more quickly. If you add them too soon you may lose all of the delicate flavors you want to preserve.
Remember that its safe adding prepacked hops post boil since they are microbe free but if you are adding other ingredients be careful, since this could infect your beer.
A way of combating this is to add it at the beginning of the boil, but if you want to preserve those delicate flavors you will need to make sure you have fresh microbe free spices.
Late Malt Extract
In a recent article I talked about extract twang. Another interesting way to combat extract twang, or essentially your sugars becoming unfermentable is to add malt extract at flameout.
Not only can you avoid the caramelization of your beer by adding malt extract post flameout but you can also contribute to a clearer beer. This might be a good idea, if you are trying to create a clearer wheat beer.
This technique can be utilized with both liquid malt extract and dry malt extract. What you cannot do is add grains during this time, although anything is possible I guess…? (don’t try this).
How Long Should Cooling Take
It can be a precarious time from flameout to moving the liquid wort into the fermentor so what takes place during this phase for me?
Typically this process, takes around a half an hour. One of the reasons for this is because of the wort chiller that we utilize. This makes it much quicker, we also submerge our pot in a sink with an ice bath.
You can check out the wort chiller and many other products we use on our recommended products page. Be sure to check it out for ideas on making your brewing experience better.
We like to drag the garden hose from outside into the house and hook it up to the chiller in our sink. Its incredibly ridiculous but, hey! We still made beer.
In reality, cooling your wort just makes the process of transferring to your fermentor much quicker freeing up time. Lessening the risk of off flavors is another plus, but if you are homebrewing, just remember to relax, and grab a homebrew.