Need advice for boiling at near pot capacity

I have a 62 quart Bayou Classic pot. I am thinking about doing a 11 gallon batch of BM's Centennial Blonde. I have my boil off set, in Beersmith, to 2 gallons per hour which is fairly accurate. Beersmith tells me I need 13.96 gallons at the start of the boil. This would put my wort level to within 2" of the top of the pot. I use FermCap to control foam but I still get a decent foam up when I add my pellet hops at the 60 minute mark, so my question to you is...

how do you guys that boil near your pots capacity handle foam up and hop addition foam up without boiling over?

Do you kill the heat, add hops, stir, re-start the heat?

Do you use the normal tricks like spray bottle with cold water, fan, stir like a mad man?

Please share.

I boil at near capacity, and here's what I do:

1. never walk away until it reduces some and doesn't act like it wants to boil over again.

2. keep a spray bottle of water in hand to break up the bubbles.

3. Wait until hot break is done and let it boil for 15-20 minutes before adding any hops.

4. Be ready to kill the gas when you do get a boilover

5. Just when it starts to boil, turn the heat on the lowest setting. On my bayou classic, it's just enough heat to keep it fairly vigorous without jumping out of the pot

You can also reserve some of the wort, say a gallon. Instead of 13.96 gallons just start with 13 and slowly add in the last gallon once you reach boil.

wilserbrewer said:

You can also reserve some of the wort, say a gallon. Instead of 13.96 gallons just start with 13 and slowly add in the last gallon once you reach boil.

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That's what I do. count on the extra boil time and delay hop additions accordingly.

That reminds me, sometimes I only boil the first runnings and the first batch-sparge runnings for the first half of the brew, then do my final batch-sparge and add that when the wort reduces some.

Good call wilserbrewer

wilserbrewer said:

You can also reserve some of the wort, say a gallon. Instead of 13.96 gallons just start with 13 and slowly add in the last gallon once you reach boil.

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cheezydemon3 said:

That's what I do. count on the extra boil time and delay hop additions accordingly.

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This "sounds" like the foam up right before the boil starts, do you guys not get any hop foam up? When I boil, the fermcap controls the wort foam fine but when I add my first hop addition it seems like I will get some foam up from the hop addition. This is the foam up that I am concerned about causing a boil over.

You need to turn the boil down while adding the hops, or add them a little at a time. Adding a huge handful of pellets all at once is asking for trouble...have patience...

And if you can't turn it down anymore, well heck just shut the burner off for a minute.

wilserbrewer said:

And if you can't turn it down anymore, well heck just shut the burner off for a minute.

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that is what i was thinking. i guess i'll have to give the 11 gallon batch a shot and see how it goes

Thank you guys for answering.

If anyone else has suggestions, throw them out there.

Two ways I've handled overfull pots:

Set your brewing software to no boiloff, then proceed as normal. On the side, heat two gallons of brewing water. After the 60 minute boil, add the extra water back in. This allows all the wort to go through the full boil.

Or, a careful eye and more drops of FermCap whenever it starts getting close to the lip.

Thanks tenbricks

I agree with those that suggested saving some water. Just save some of your sparge water to add towards the end of the boil when your volume is down. I've done that without issues.

Pardon_My_Flocculance said:

I agree with those that suggested saving some water. Just save some of your sparge water to add towards the end of the boil when your volume is down. I've done that without issues.

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Thanks PMF, this might just be the way I go.

I typically do large boils when I make 10g of saison or pale ale and there is very little room left in my 15gal kettle. Especially for the hoppy beers, as I tend to make more wort than I need so I can keep hop debris in the kettle after racking to fermentor.

My method is to get rid of some of the hot break as its forming by spooning it out, wait for the boil to begin and then turn the heat pretty far down. With that much thermal mass it doesnt take much to keep it boiling. I like to add the hops as soon as its been boiling for a couple minutes, even on 90 min boils. The hops definitely help keep the foamy hot break down. I watch it very closely for about the first 10-15 min and make sure its not going to get out of control, then Ill leave it alone and go do other brew day things until the next hop addition.

Surprisingly, Ive had a few boil overs on 5gal batches in my 15gal kettle from failing to watch the boil closely, but none when Im paying attention to the large batches.

I have an 8 gallon pot and typically boil around 7.4 or 7.5 gallons. You're worried about wort within 2" of the top of the kettle? Pul-leeeze!

- Fermcap - this is a must!
- Cut the heat WAY down when it starts to boil. I know exactly where this is on my regulator but you will have to experiment a bit to find the sweet spot for you.
- A few minutes after it starts to boil I dump all the bittering hops in. Don't be a pansy about it.
- Stir the bejesus out of it with a long stainless spoon.
- In about 5 minutes, or when your arm feels like its going to fall off, stop stirring and see if it's willing to settle down yet. When you get a solid 30 seconds of not panicking as it tries to boil over, turn the heat back up to "normal".

I have three settings that I use on my propane regulator. They are unmarked and I'm the only one that knows about them. The first setting is wide open, which is what I use when heating the wort up to a boil. The second is the "please don't boil over setting" which is really low. Basically enough to maintain a simmer. The third is in the middle. I've done it enough times that I know just where to put the dial to get it to do what I want.