Boil Off

I'm going to use my bayou classic for the first time today.
Planning on boiling 6 gallons down to 51/4 in an hour.

If I lose more volume than expected to the boil can I just top it off at the end with no ill effect?

If you're doing extract, then yes....if you're going allgrain, then no...you need to know the boiloff rate of your bayou and figure it in...

Why don't you run a test with plain water before you actually start working woth your wort...Bring 6 gallons up to boil and time it til you get 5 1/2...Then cool the water and use it for either your strike/sparge water or if extract use it for your wort and topp off water...That way you'll know the boiloff rate of your rig...

i figured it wouldn't matter if it was all grain or extract....why can't you top up with AG?

Revvy said:

If you're doing extract, then yes....if you're going allgrain, then no...you need to know the boiloff rate of your bayou and figure it in...

Why don't you run a test with plain water before you actually start working woth your wort...Bring 6 gallons up to boil and time it til you get 5 1/2...Then cool the water and use it for either your strike/sparge water or if extract use it for your wort and topp off water...That way you'll know the boiloff rate of your rig...

Click to expand...

I don't get why you say that you can add water to extract, but not AG?

I'd also mention that boil-off is relative. There are a lot of variables that affect it.

If you overshoot your final volume you can top off. It doesn't matter if it is all grain or extract. The only "ill effect" might be a lttle more kettle caramelization. I actually have two boil off rates determined for my system. One for a good rolling boil and another for a gentle, ticking over boil. There is a significant difference. Just be sure to accurately measure your pre and post boil volumes so you can calculate your boil off rate for future reference. Also be aware that hot wort takes up more space then cool wort so there is a small difference in the volume of your hot wort vs your chilled wort.

GT

Thanks for the replies.
I wound up losing a gallon and topped off with 1/4.
The SQ14 performed admirably.