Fighting boil over

StophJS · 12-29-2011, 12:13 AM

I was hoping someone could clue me in as to what it is about this recipe that I've done twice now that creates a monster of a hot break. I steep .75 lb of caramel 60L, .75 lb of chocolate and .50 lb of roasted barley. Today I noticed that there was already a significant hot break and possibly risk of boil over before I even added my malt extract. Once I did add my extract I was battling boil over for about 5 minutes or so. The extract was 3 lb of wheat and 3 lb of amber DME. Anyone know why hot break is so crazy on this particular brew and not really the other ones I've done?

Edit: Sorry to add another question.. I didn't want to start a whole new thread. I'm having trouble finding really solid info about steeping temps. I steeped the grains for this stout at 166. Is this too hot? I've also read that this creates a "highly unfermentable wort profile", but I'm not sure that means.

HappyLoon · 12-29-2011, 12:30 AM

What temp are you steeping at? You should never steep at boiling temperatures, but depending on your recipe it could be anywhere from 130 to 160 degrees F. I typically steep extract recipes around 150 degrees for about 30 minutes.

From there, bring the water to a boil slowly and add your malt extract at that point. If your boil is rapid, try dialing back your heat source so it builds more gradually. This might help with boilovers as well.

StophJS · 12-29-2011, 12:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HappyLoon

What temp are you steeping at? You should never steep at boiling temperatures, but depending on your recipe it could be anywhere from 130 to 160 degrees F. I typically steep extract recipes around 150 degrees for about 30 minutes.

From there, bring the water to a boil slowly and add your malt extract at that point. If your boil is rapid, try dialing back your heat source so it builds more gradually. This might help with boilovers as well.

Bloomington eh? I'm a Tonka native.

I must have added the info about steeping as you were typing your post

Well truth be told I did bring it up to boil after the steep super rapidly on my new patio burner. First time using it so there's the learning curve of course. Last time I did this recipe it was on the stove. Didn't get a crazy hot break on that before the DME but definitely still immediately after.

danorocks17 · 12-29-2011, 12:44 AM

I"m not sure why you are getting crazy boilovers, but you need to get some fermcap-s. that stuff is super cheap and you wont' have to worry about foam overs

HappyLoon · 12-29-2011, 12:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by StophJS

Bloomington eh? I'm a Tonka native.

Nice! We're on the west side of Bloomington, drive through Tonka quite a bit!

I do full boils in an 8 gallon pot, but I keep the propane down so it doesn't boil over.

There's also a theory about skimming off the hot break. Apparently it contains some potentially harmful proteins, but it would also stop boilovers.

**Captain Damage** · 12-29-2011, 01:01 AM

Use FermcapS to prevent boilovers. You can get it at any homebrew shop or mailorder. You can also use a spray bottle of water to beat down the boilover, or "ride" the flame - turning down the heat as looks like it's going to boil over. Unless you're using FermcapS, don't ever look away from your boil. Don't fix a snack; don't check your texts; don't pet your cat - cause that's when it's going to boil over.

The exact steeping temperature isn't really that critical. Just make sure you stay below 165F, or you may extract excess tannin from the grain. You need to be warm enough to dissolve the sugars from the caramel/crystal malts, so we usually say ~155F.

StophJS · 12-29-2011, 01:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by danorocks17

I"m not sure why you are getting crazy boilovers, but you need to get some fermcap-s. that stuff is super cheap and you wont' have to worry about foam overs

Wow I hadn't even heard of that stuff. Might have to check it out.

Quote:

Originally Posted by HappyLoon

Nice! We're on the west side of Bloomington, drive through Tonka quite a bit!

I do full boils in an 8 gallon pot, but I keep the propane down so it doesn't boil over.

There's also a theory about skimming off the hot break. Apparently it contains some potentially harmful proteins, but it would also stop boilovers.

I'm using a 36 qt so it's not super hard to keep under control, I'm mostly curious what causes this with this particular recipe, and if maybe it's connected to steeping too hot or something like that. In my old kettle I would take it off the heat and skim off some foam; that seemed to work out pretty well. This was actually my first full boil. Pretty sweet except that I forgot to adjust my bittering hops and didn't count on losing a full gallon to evaporation.

StophJS · 12-29-2011, 01:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Captain Damage

Just make sure you stay below 165F

And I was at 166 of course, haha.

Calder · 12-29-2011, 01:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Captain Damage

Use FermcapS to prevent boilovers.

+1

Quote:

Originally Posted by Captain Damage

You can get it at any homebrew shop or mailorder.

I use it, but my LHBS doesn't stock it.

For the OP. Don't worry too much about temperatures. You need it above 150 to start dissolving the sugars. The higher the temperature, the better they dissolve in the water. Above 170 you supposedly start to extract tannins, but you probably wouldn't notice with the small amount of grains.

Fermentable vs. unfermentable is for mashing. With steeping it doesnt matter; you are just extracting sugars and flavors, and not converting starches.

While I don't recommend it, the late Dave Line "Brewing Beers like those you Buy" circa 1970, said to boil your steeping grains as part of extract brewing. Based on that I suspect you can't go too wrong if you let the temperature go over 170 a little.

StophJS · 12-29-2011, 01:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Calder

+1

For the OP. Don't worry too much about temperatures. You need it above 150 to start dissolving the sugars. The higher the temperature, the better they dissolve in the water. Above 170 you supposedly start to extract tannins, but you probably wouldn't notice with the small amount of grains.

Fermentable vs. unfermentable is for mashing. With steeping it doesnt matter; you are just extracting sugars and flavors, and not converting starches.

While I don't recommend it, the late Dave Line "Brewing Beers like those you Buy" circa 1970, said to boil your steeping grains as part of extract brewing. Based on that I suspect you can't go too wrong if you let the temperature go over 170 a little.

I remember reading about Dave Line's take on steeping. Definitely seems that homebrew theory is constantly changing. Thanks for the other info. I thought I noticed a little astringency in a brew where I let the steep over 170, but I suspect it was a placebo effect.