How do you prevent boil-overs?

Question

How do you prevent boil-overs?

Rich Armstrong

2012年12月19日 00:32

This is a shill question for Mark Taylor. I stumbled on his great tip about keeping a spray bottle on hand to prevent boil-overs while looking for advice on yeast re-use. The spray bottle worked amazingly well. Ample room in the boil pot is pretty obvious. What other strategies are there?

Topic boilover techniques homebrew

Category Mac

wesanyer · Accepted Answer · 2012年12月19日 00:32

I find that a fan pointed at my brew helps prevent boiling. Similar to the gentlemen that blows on his brew, but this way you don't have to worry about lung capacity. One caveat: I'm pretty sure this will increase your boiloff rate, so you'll want to compensate accordingly.

Prefect Six · Accepted Answer · 2012年12月18日 02:58

Fermcap S is far and away the best solution. Use as directed during the boil. You can also use it in the fermenter to prevent a large krausen from overwhelming your airlock, but you will need to adjust your IBU's as it will reduce hop utilization during fermentation.

You can also add a drop or two to your starters to prevent boil overs when preparing them.

David PGB · Accepted Answer · 2012年12月12日 13:45

Adding a few hops before the boil starts will control the foam up. I add 3-6 pellets from my first bittering addition. I don't remember the science behind it (explained on Basic Brewing Radio), but something with the oils of the hops helps to reduce the foam. Also blowing on it......

jsmith · Accepted Answer · 2012年12月12日 13:16

I have an oscillating fan that I put on low that blows right on my keggle. Keeps the foam down, but you will end up with more loss of volume, so be prepared for that with some distilled water to top off with if needed.

mark taylor · Accepted Answer · 2012年12月11日 22:45

The first defense for me is the spray bottle but frankly the only times I've had boil-overs is when I'm not paying attention. So, first on my list of boil over remedies is paying attention as the boil nears 212f.

mark Beer Diary...

alex.jordan · Accepted Answer · 2012年5月6日 23:40

I just pick the pot up off the stove if a boil-over seems imminent. Gas or electric, that immediately stops any boil. If you're not in the vicinity to notice a pending boil-over, then I don't know what you can do beyond buying a bigger pot or using FermCap.

Dean Brundage · Accepted Answer · 2010年4月2日 15:09

1

Dean Brundage answered at 2010年4月2日 15:09

Giant Pot

I use a 20 gallon pot for a typical 12.5 gallon wort boil.

Sometimes I have a spray bottle

Pulsehead · Accepted Answer · 2010年4月2日 13:04

I brew on my stove which is right next to a window. I open the window, turn on the vent fan, and when boilover is imminent, I'll blow on the foam, and that reduces the foam quite quickly. Granted I've only done this with extract and specialty grain, so it may not work in all-grain, but I'd recommend it for a try.

UntamedBeer · Accepted Answer · 2010年3月29日 01:31

1

UntamedBeer answered at 2010年3月29日 01:31

If you don't have a spray bottle or hose nearby, you can stir the wort with a big spoon or paddle and that will break up the foam. Just be careful not to burn yourself!

score 1 · Accepted Answer · 2010年3月29日 01:06

1

answered at 2010年3月29日 01:06

I now use fermcap, but I found a little 5 inch fan directed right at the surface works great.

Jimmy · Accepted Answer · 2010年3月25日 03:24

I've used FermCap in the last couple of batches. Seems to work great for preventing that initial boilover. It still gets foamy, but the foam dissipates much more quickly. Excellent in starters on the stove top as well. No noticeable effect in the finished beer. No problems with head retention, etc.

Aaron · Accepted Answer · 2010年3月24日 19:48

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Aaron answered at 2010年3月24日 19:48

Similar to the spray bottle...I keep a glass of cool water nearby. If the foam starts rising I dump a little in. Settles things down nicely.

JackSmith · Accepted Answer · 2010年3月24日 18:39

I keep a very close eye on the foam level during the first 10 minutes of the boil and am very ready to kill the heat if need be. Recently I've been boiling with my pot about 2" from the rim at the start of the boil and haven't boiled over... yet. Brewing on a gas range (as opposed to electric) really provides for a lot of control over the heat input. With gas, when you kill the heat, it's killed, unlike an electric coil stove where you kill the heat and it starts to cool off.

When adding hops, I drop in one or two to test the water - er, wort - before going all-in. Hops provide a lot of nucleation sites, so adding them quickly could cause there to be a ton of foam when there was no foam seconds earlier.

How do you prevent boil-overs?

Giant Pot

Sometimes I have a spray bottle

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