boilover

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seckert

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Today i had my kettle on the stove and was starting the wort. it had just came to a boil and i proceeded to put my hops in. i got distracted and before i could get a handle on it i boiled over. It appeared that the hops had crusted all over the top and down the side of the pot. i was curious if this truly was a disaster or not. if i was to guess i would say that i lost about 1/4 of my hops. will this totally destroy the taste of the beer or will it taste like something is missing? or will this just end up tasting like some varient beer i havent had before?
 
It should retain most of the flavor, the biggest bummer to boil overs is the clean up. You can always dry hop if your worried about hop aroma.
 
Should be fine... you lost some liquid too to be sure... and so you'll probably end up something pretty close... It's also hard to tell how much of the hops you've lost cause they expand in the boil and you may have lost less than you actually think...Good luck!
 
Yes the cleanup definately wasnt the most fun thing in the world. My wife decided that she wasnt coming in the kitchen until it was done. She said it was better that way...lol
Im glad to hear that it probably isnt going to destroy the taste of the recipe. guess i will find out in about 6 weeks or so. thanks for the input!
 
1) You should wait for the hot break to pass before adding the hops, otherwise some of the oils could be combined with the break and not be in the beer.

2) FermCap S! Buy some. You will think it is one of the best inventions since man made beer. It will prevent boil-overs; I've not had any close calls since I started using it. It also helps prevent blow-offs. Once you use it, you will never brew without it again! NOTE (1) still applies.
 
I boiled my first ever brew over real bad. Watched it like a hawk for almost 45 mins, was getting concerned my electric stove didn't have the oompf to boil it. So I went to take a quick piss. Bad idea, massive boil over.

But! It worked it fine anyways. It was a porter, and it was delicious, and I drank 5 gallons of it in 2 weeks, best beer I ever drank.

So don't worry to much.
 
i have never heard to wait until the hot break passes before adding hops. my only question is that if you wait for the hot break then add hops what does that do to your time schedule? the recipe called for me to add hops as soon as the boil began then boil for 60 min. so does that mean boil until the hot break then add and go for 60? or just start the clock when you hit the boil?
 
Like Calder said, use Fermcap. Works great for preventing boilovers with yeast starters too.
 
Those times are meant to indicate how long the hops need to be boiled. The only impact of waiting for the hotbreak is you might get fractionally more boiloff. But really, it's such a short time, that it will not even factor in to the final product. It is important that the oils in the hops are boiling for the correct time to achieve the IBUs you're going for.
 
ok well in the future i will ensure i have the hot break then add the hops. i guess you are right even with the extra boiling time it probably is less than a couple of ounces difference in liquid. you always can learn something huh? lol
 
yes i know that, i had already planned on getting a bigger pot prior to this. i was just curious about the taste difference when you lost the hops from a boilover. I am moving my brewing outside to the garage. so i have a more powerful burner with that bigger pot.
 
I find that even without a boilover, you get some amount of hops sticking to the side of the pot just above the plimsoll line.
 
yes that is true, but i had them down the side of the pot and on the stove along with the normal ones inside the pot...lol
 
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