Hop Break/Clumping Question

[trossi]

I just brewed a Big Pale Ale, and experianced what I thought to be excessive clumping in the wart. My procedure was mash for 50 min at 150-160, raise temp to 175 for 10 min, and sparge out with 160 degree all F. I brought the wart to a boil which took probably 10 min and let it go for another 15-20 min before I added bitter hops. During the boil before hop addition, there was a bunch of clumps and there was alot of foam, I reduced the heat to get the foam down, but the clumps remained. The total boil was about 120 min so I could reduce the 6.75 gallons down to 5.00, and because I am under the impression that 120 min is a good range for heavy all grain brews. If there is a problem with this clumping let me know, or is this normal hop break action.

[slothrob]

120 minutes seems a little long unless the beer is pretty !@#$ big, but a lot of break (protein break, actually, nothing really to do with hops.) is normal for a big AG beer and is a good thing.

[trossi]

Thanks, I wondered why some were calling it "hop break". anyhow if this is normal i will sleep now. Acually it is fermenting like a !@#$ right now.