Thor
Well-Known Member
I use a 7.5 gallon kettle for brewing extract + specialty grain + hop recipes. So far, so good. However, what tends to happen is that the foam that builds before the hot break keeps going for quite a time (10-20 minutes) before the hot break. In that time, the hops bubble up with the foam and coat the sides of the kettle above the wort.
I have avoided the boil over so far by managing the flame, but I wonder whether I am cheating my beer of character when what seems like a fair amount of hops is out of the wort. I scrape it back down into the wort as best I can.
Is there a better way? What do you all do to keep the hops where they belong? I am guessing hop bags would help, but are there other ways?
I have avoided the boil over so far by managing the flame, but I wonder whether I am cheating my beer of character when what seems like a fair amount of hops is out of the wort. I scrape it back down into the wort as best I can.
Is there a better way? What do you all do to keep the hops where they belong? I am guessing hop bags would help, but are there other ways?