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fretman124

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I'm a NOOB. Just brewed my first extract. An american amber recipe I got from Beertools.

Anyway, according to my LHBS, I put the dry extract into the boiling wort after steeping the grains.

My question is, can you stir the extract in BEFORE the wort is boiling. The reason I ask is I came very close to having a boilover when I stirred it into the boilng water.

I think it would be easier to control the wort when it is coming to a boil, rather than tossing in the extract and trying to stir, turn down the heat and the other 12 things I did at once to keep it all in the pot.

Can you stir in the extract before the boil and after the steeping of the grains?

Thanks

PV
 
Yes you can. I add my my extract right after steeping. This allows me to skim off the hot break (the cause of many boilovers) as it gets to a boil. Definitely add the extract before the boil.
 
What I do is bring the water back to boil after I remove my steeping grains, then take it off the heat while I add the extract. This will prevent the boil over you are describing. Once all the extract is added and fully dissolved, then I bring it back to boil and add the hops.
 
TheJadedDog said:
What I do is bring the water back to boil after I remove my steeping grains, then take it off the heat while I add the extract. This will prevent the boil over you are describing. Once all the extract is added and fully dissolved, then I bring it back to boil and add the hops.


Good call. Do this, I will too.
 
After you add the extract...while it is getting up to a boil again, you will notice a layer of foam/scum that slowly forms. If you have a standard stainless kitchen strainer, grab it and skim this stuff off. This will also aid in your fight against boilover. Think of it like pasta. That white foam that forms on pasta traps the evaporation and causes your pasta to boil over. Same with beer. Get rid of this foam (also called hot break), and you can really avoid boilover without having to reduce your temperature much.
 
When I was doing partial boil extracts on the kitchen stove (electric since I have no gas hookup), I would allow the wort to rise until it was one inch from the top of the pot then lift the pot from the burner (with silicone mitts on in case of boil over) and hold it until the level subsided. Lower the pot and repeat 3 or 4 times. That's it. I never had a boil over.
 
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