Wort never reached boiling temperature

Hello everyone.

Sunday I brewed my first batch of beer! Everything seemed to go fine except one crucial detail. I could never get my wort up to 212 degrees (5 gallon SS pot - 3.5 gallons of water). I used two thermometers, one digital and one floating. The digital read 210.5 and the floating read 204-206. At no time during the "boil" did my wort try to foam up, even when adding the hops or LME. I added hops at 60 minutes, LME at 20 minutes, and hops at 15 minutes. Also I don't think I got any hot break to occure. Although this being my first time I'm not sure (there was nothing white during the "boil" and nothing white when I transfered to the fermentation bucket through a stainer).

Other than that everything went fine. Steeped my grains at 155 degrees for 30 minutes. Added the DME and put the pot back on the fire. Temperature would only get to the degrees I posted above. I continued on and hoped for the best. I extended the "boil" to 65 minutes hoping it would help.

I cooled the wort down in an ice bath, down to 58 degrees in 20 minutes, which caught me off guard Then put it in the bucket, topped off with 1.5 gallons of water, pitched the yeast and sealed it up. Of course then I remembered to take a hydrometer reading which read 1.046. Not sure how much that is effected by the fact I had already pitched the yeast. Plus Im not sure I did the hydrometer right at all. But that was right in the middle of what the box said the OG should read.

Now the beer is in my closet happily bubbling away through the airlock. My concern is the temperature of my boil. What effects will this have? I wont dump the batch, it being my first try I am riding this sucker all the way to bottling and driniking.

This was a True Brew Kit - Brown Ale. Any insight anyone can give about the effects of my boiling temperature would be greatly appreciated. Also I have already ordered a propane burner setup to do my second batch. My stove just wasnt powerful enough for my 5 gallon pot.

You probably just need to calibrate your thermometers. The temp that water boils depends on your elevation. According to a calculator I found in your area water should boil at a little over 211*F

Did it actually boil? Like boil water for spaghetti boil? If not, the worst thing might be some hop under utilization, chalk it up as a learning experience. When your fryer gets in, it will make big difference you will know what hot break looks like.

Is getting the hot break not important? I thought you needed that to get something out of the extracts, protein or something along those lines. I just dont want to drink it if its going to kill me

how were you boiling? i've had that issue when i was extract brewing on the stove and having too much water in there, i limit my stove top brews to about 3 gallons.
also, when you're boiling, do not read into the thermometers... were you at a boil?

I never got much, if any, hot or cold break with extract. Maybe because the wort has already gone through the break process when it was made and condensed into extract. Just did first batch of all grain, and got a lot more break material. I think your beer will be fine not hitting boil since it was extract, but you should try to get a burner that allows you to hit boil.

I was watching some youtube videos about a week ago with some guy making a 120 minute IPA. He said he never brought his wort to a boil intentionally. I wouldn't do this, but it seems to work for him. Like the above said, your hops may not have reached their potential. I'm sure it will be good beer though.