Boil intensity

[sgrhyno]

Morning folks...I have a question that's been bugging me, but never think to ask.

I'm interested to know how intense of a boil you all keep on your brew days. Does boil intensity have an affect on the final out come or just evaporation rates?

I've recently started doing 40L-ish batches in my keggle and that doesn't leave a lot of room at the very top. As hard as I try, hotbreak boil overs have become a relatively normal thing. Though I fight it hard as I hate a sticky garage floor. Then if its a heavy rolling boil, I still get a fair bit of splashing.

Which leads me to another question now that I think of it. When do you all start your clock for your boil time? After hot break is basically over?

I think I brew a little too haphazardly most days to get this part of my process dialed in (heavy vs light boil) . I haven't had to dump a batch yet...so its more just a general interest 'whats everyone else doing' kinda question.

ok...ler 'er rip....

[jacinthebox]

I have mine on full tilt (propane)...only because I know the boil off when it's on blast with wind blocker

[mckay75]

Invest in some Fermcap and never worry about a boil over again.

I run a pretty vigorous boil...I use one the Stilldragon DIY electric controllers and am prob running it at 85% throughout the whole boil. It's at 100% until the hotbreak finishes.

[CartoonCod]

When I was brewing with propane I could set it as low as it could go, just enough to see the wort overturn, mostly to save on propane.


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[sgrhyno]

Thanks guys! I use propane too, hoping one day to go electric. I tend to turn mine down too once I hit a boil to manage the hotbreak and stop the spills. I've been missing my numbers since I started the 10 gal batchs and now I think it might be due to my lower intensity boil (less than expected evap).

My take aways
1. fermcap. I'm getting some
2. boil intensity doesn't seem to matter as much as dialing in your evap rate...

Time for some more experiments.

[GAM]

The evap rate is effected by exposed surface area not volume. Beersmith is a good tool to estimate the loss.

Also I use Fermcap all the time.

S

[sgrhyno]

Yeah...I use beer smith pretty much exclusively. The only reason I was relating my evap rate to volume was because I could run my 5gal batch’s at a much more vigour boil, so I was likely getting more evap loses.

Brewed this weekend and am definitely getting some fermcap. Garage floor is still sticky...


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