Leaf hops and boil off question

Hey guys, my brewing process has been nearly perfect now for about 10 brews as far as pre/post boil volumes and efficiency go. My brew session tonight was the first time that I used leaf hops instead of pellets. Everything went well except that I missed my post boil target by a whopping three quarters of a gallon! I knew the leaf hops absorb extra wort, but I thought I could just strain them and squeeze the liquid back out of them. Is that where I went wrong? I didn't boil the wort any harder than usual. I just don't understand how I came up that short, are there any other issues that come from using leaf hops vs. pellets that I need to be aware of? I also noticed that once I got to 20 minutes left in the boil, once I put my immersion chiller in, the chiller would trap and hold massive amounts of hops in the center of the coil, anyone else have that problem? thanks for any info.

Everything i have read says your looking at a couple of cups more absorption (depending on recipe ect ect) with leaf hops versus pellet hops. Dont think ive ever seen an exact number. As far as loosing three quarters of a gallon, you may want to check your evap rate (was it warm out? did you use a new brewpot? ect ect.) my guess is you had a few small factors grouped together to contribute to your extra boil off. Pellet hops have a bit better utilization (and a bit less absorption) than leaf hops but ive heard many people say you get better aroma with leaf hops. whats your setup if i may ask?

Pimpfoot said:

whats your setup if i may ask?

Click to expand...

Allgrain
6.5 gallon preboil
5 gallon batch size
10 Gallon rectangle cooler mash tun
10 Gallon Stainless brew pot

thats about it, lol, at least the important stuff.

sounds pretty standard. was it particularly hot when you did your boil? were you outside on a dry day? evaporation rate can change dramatically with minor changes in relative humidity or temperature. basically there are 4 factors involved in evaporation. 1 - exposed surface area. 2 - heat (hard boil vs soft boil ect). 3 - composition of the fluid being boiled. 4 - gas phase molecules surrounding the fluid being boiled (external humidity). might also want to go back and re-figure all your boil off calculations. possible you may have missed a value somewhere. My guess is you probably lost a couple cups to absorption, a couple more from humidity, maybe a couple more from boil temp... ect ect.

we brewed after dark and it was around 80 degrees. This was our first brew session since the weather has started to turn slightly towards fall. In other words it was hot outside but it didn't seem as muggy as usual down here in Fl.