Boilover Question

I just brewed a high-gravity IPA and unfortunately had a massive boilover. I was cleaning some equipment and did not realize it was boiling over for probably about 4 seconds before I pulled it off. My question is -- how much fermentable malt did I lose in the boilover? My stovetop was covered.
I started with 9.5 lbs of malt. My pot volume had dropped dramatically so I added an extra 3 lbs of extract to make up for the boilover. Anyone have any experience with boilovers that can provide some insight into how much malt I actually lost? Thanks.

milholen said:

I just brewed a high-gravity IPA and unfortunately had a massive boilover. I was cleaning some equipment and did not realize it was boiling over for probably about 4 seconds before I pulled it off. My question is -- how much fermentable malt did I lose in the boilover? My stovetop was covered.
I started with 9.5 lbs of malt. My pot volume had dropped dramatically so I added an extra 3 lbs of extract to make up for the boilover. Anyone have any experience with boilovers that can provide some insight into how much malt I actually lost? Thanks.

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Never had a boilover here... yet. Was the OG higher than you anticipated? Or about what you had planned? Those numbers might help you figure it out.

I've only had one boilover and would say the amount of malt I lost was measured in oz., not pounds.

I didn't take an OG reading -- I've never been that precise when brewing. When do you normally take the OG reading?

Right before pitching the yeast is when I do it. You need to make sure any water you topped off with, is mixed in well first.

With that extra extract, you may be on the way to creating a nice strong brew. Nothing wrong with that!

Well as you said you have not been precise. There is a lot to be said about the method of not being percise. It's much more relaxing and for many, SG is on overkill placed real high on the importance list. You added some more malt to it so it will certainly replace what was lost. In the "Joy of Hombrew" towards the back (don't have the book with me) there is a chart that tells you how much of ingrediants to add to change the SG (here I mean Specific Gravity) so many points. Eh.... it's going to be great The OG, or Original Gravity, is taken when you put wort in it's primary. This can be called SG, or Starting Gravity. Many use SG to mean Specific Gravity, though using this does not say much as to when it was taken. Then before you bottle you take the FG or Final Gravity. Your alcohol percent will be OG - FG *100. Many take a gravity reading when the fermentation activity stops.... then take it again in a few days to make sure the fermentation has indeed stoped before bottling (thus preventing HB granades).