Elevation compensation

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benbradford

benbradford

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Is there a necessary adjustment to the boil that should be made due to the lower boiling point at elevation?

I brew at 10,000+ feet and my boiling point is a little under 200 degrees.

Should I boil for a longer time?
 
Good question. I brew at 7000 feet. My boiling point is right around 200F. I have never made any adjustments in my brews but I really don't know that answer. I'm interested in hearing others chime in.
 
I brew around 4000, I have never adjusted anything in my boil. I don't think the temperature is that important, it's more the evaporation, which happens either way. Also, hop extraction only really changes when you get pretty low, well into the 100's.

The only difference would be possible infections that don't die at your boil temp but do die at 212F. I don't think they exist, but if you are really paranoid you can star san everything pre boil.

Now, if you have a kegerator...check out my sig.
 
10K ft? Jeebus...

I've been brewing for years at 6700ft. The boil does 4 main things - isomerize the hops, sterilize the wort, concentrate the wort (via evaporation) and drive off DMS precursors (also via evaporation). Evaporation takes less energy and happens at a lower temp at altitude so altitude is actually beneficial for getting rid of DMS and concentrating the wort. Alpha acid isomerization happens at 140 deg and up, so even at 10K ft, you'll be fine. Sterilization is a matter of temp AND time so even though your boil temp is low, over a 60 minute boil there's nothing to be concerned about.
 
jkarp said:
10K ft? Jeebus...

I've been brewing for years at 6700ft. The boil does 4 main things - isomerize the hops, sterilize the wort, concentrate the wort (via evaporation) and drive off DMS precursors (also via evaporation). Evaporation takes less energy and happens at a lower temp at altitude so altitude is actually beneficial for getting rid of DMS and concentrating the wort. Alpha acid isomerization happens at 140 deg and up, so even at 10K ft, you'll be fine. Sterilization is a matter of temp AND time so even though your boil temp is low, over a 60 minute boil there's nothing to be concerned about.
Click to expand...

Hey look, it's everything I said, only said intelligently and accurately! Can you just follow me around jkarp and do the same for all my posts? :mug:
 
dkershner said:
Hey look, it's everything I said, only said intelligently and accurately! Can you just follow me around jkarp and do the same for all my posts? :mug:
Click to expand...

Heh, I got interrupted by work mid-post for a while and only saw yours after I hit submit. :p
 
any advice on using beersmith and decoctions to adjust for adding back to the mash at 200 instead of 212?
 
Someone in the software program said I should increase the volume of my decoction by 6%....any thoughts
 

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