jajabee

Recipes 

I'm 10 minutes into a boil, first time using a paint strainer bag (5 gallons) suspended over the boil kettle. I threw like 8 SS spoons in there, which keep part of the bag sunk into the wort, in a kind of circle shape. In the middle of the circle is a big "bubble" of gas from the boil, pushing up on the bag. Is this normal? Is there anything else I can do to get the bag to stay down, and get the hops into more contact? Should I be stirring constantly?

Thanks!

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Carboys: Oatmeal Stout
Bottled: Caramel Cream Ale, Edwort's Hefeweizen, Rhubarb Wheat, Hoppy Belgian Sour, Pumpkin Ale (infected, RIP), Caramel Cream #2

Zen_Brew

Recipes 

Is it a fine mesh bag? That could be why the bubble is forming.

It should be fine. Take a stir spoon and sink the bag every once in a while when you stir. I usually put my hops loosely in a hop sock that just sort of floats about in the pot and I sink it from time to time with my stir spoon.

Remember just above the wort the steam coming off the wort is even hotter than the wort and that will be steaming all the hop goodness as well which will work back into the kettle.

__________________
Primary: German Hef, Belgian IPA, Scottish 80, Belgian Dubbel
On Tap: Oatmeal Stout, Vanilla Oatmeal Stout, Belgian Dark Strong, Munich Dunkel, Dunkel Weizen, Oktoberfest, Bock, IPA, Black IPA, English IPA, Pale Ale

Using the mind to look for reality is delusion. Using your senses to look for reality is awareness.

"One time I was so desperate for a beer I snuck into the football stadium and ate the dirt under the bleachers." Homer Simpson

Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Hoppiness

jajabee

Recipes 

Ok cool, all set! I poked it down occasionally, and it seems to have turned out fine, the wort is extremely hoppy. I only got 4 gallons out cause my dip tube needs improvement, but I think those 4 gallons will be pretty good! Thanks for the help!

__________________
Carboys: Oatmeal Stout
Bottled: Caramel Cream Ale, Edwort's Hefeweizen, Rhubarb Wheat, Hoppy Belgian Sour, Pumpkin Ale (infected, RIP), Caramel Cream #2

Zen_Brew

Recipes 

Glad it worked out.

Couldn't you just dump the rest of the wort out of the kettle? You will end up with some more solids that way, but they'll mostly settle out in the trub.

Also if the lower volume is due to boiloff and you have a heavy gravity you can top off with some distilled or pre-boiled water to get your volume up. You just need to make sure you don't water the gravity down to much.

__________________
Primary: German Hef, Belgian IPA, Scottish 80, Belgian Dubbel
On Tap: Oatmeal Stout, Vanilla Oatmeal Stout, Belgian Dark Strong, Munich Dunkel, Dunkel Weizen, Oktoberfest, Bock, IPA, Black IPA, English IPA, Pale Ale

Using the mind to look for reality is delusion. Using your senses to look for reality is awareness.

"One time I was so desperate for a beer I snuck into the football stadium and ate the dirt under the bleachers." Homer Simpson

Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Hoppiness