too much evaporation

in the few ag full boil batches that i have done recently, my boil off rate is through the roof. not to get into calculations or anything, but i have been allowing myself about 6.5 gal to boil off 1.5 gal to end up with 5 gal in fermenter, but i have been ending up with like 3.8 gal sometimes. can i be torching my wort? I use a bayou classic sq14 with a keggle, 5 gallon batches, FULL BLAST through the whole boil, but maybe I should turn down the flame a little? I am boiling off 2.5 gal in 60 minutes every batch I do it sucks!

Bring it to a vigorous boil then after the break, drop the heat to maintain a nice rolling boil.

thanks , that makes a lot more sense. I am wondering if maybe my weldless fitting leaks SSLLLOOWWWLYYYY and evaporates from the heat before I can even notice that its leaking? sort of like leaking steam out of the weldless fitting. anyone ever have that happen?

You must be going through a lot of propane! I also have a bayou classic and the only time I go full blast is when I want a to get my infusion water up to boiling quickly. I usually step it down a little to start the wort boil. Then once it gets to the rolling boil, I turn the regulator down until it continues the rolling boil, but the flame is down quite a bit. I can get a half gallon a loss if I do try to regulate the flame to stay just at the point of boiling. If I'm not keeping an eye so much, then it can be a gallon an hour. 2 gallons is hardcore man

I have the same fryer and I turn it down at least halfway just to maintain a rolling boil. I still lose 2 gallons though so you might have to start with a larger volume to boil.

I have the same cooker, and the same plm ... seemed I was losing too much, so I did adjust the boil down, and started with larger (7 gal) wort ... now I get betw 5 -5.5 gal ..

I get close to 2gals lost in an hour, on average. I compensate for it easily enough, but I agree with the others it sounds like you can tone it down a little

I just brewed today and had the same issue. However, my boil was 90 min. But even after accounting for the extra time, I still had an evap. rate of 22.4%/hr. Basically 7.5g down to 4.25g in the 90 min.

Looks like next time I'll try turning down the propane as has been suggested in this thread.

I have employed a high-tech solution to this problem: a piece of CPVC pipe with gallon markings on it using a sharpie. I runoff to the 6.75 gal mark. 1/3 of the way into the boil I measure how much I have boiled off and adjust up or down. At 2/3 I measure again and adjust again. :rockin:

elowe said:

I have employed a high-tech solution to this problem: a piece of CPVC pipe with gallon markings on it using a sharpie. I runoff to the 6.75 gal mark. 1/3 of the way into the boil I measure how much I have boiled off and adjust up or down. At 2/3 I measure again and adjust again. :rockin:

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What re you adjusting? Your propane or adding, draining wort? I asuume propane just want to clarify.

I also have this same problem with excessive boil off. I would loive a digital pressure reg for my burner as apposed to the little know with no guage or anything. It's hard to be consistent when you have no idea what you're setting is other then "about 1/3 turn" open.

IrregularPulse said:

What re you adjusting? Your propane or adding, draining wort? I asuume propane just want to clarify.

I also have this same problem with excessive boil off. I would loive a digital pressure reg for my burner as apposed to the little know with no guage or anything. It's hard to be consistent when you have no idea what you're setting is other then "about 1/3 turn" open.

Click to expand...

Adjusting the flame. It's not entirely precise but it is a lot better than flying blind until the end and finding you have 4 gal in the pot.

Get a good boil going, then after the break settles turn your flame down to maintain a rolling boil.I start with 7.25 gallons and boil off about 1 gallon an hour.I also lose about 3/4 gallon to trube and end up with 5.5-5.25 gallons every time.Hope this helps. Lance

Take your kettle and fill it with clean water and boil it. put foil under your fittings so you can see if you have a leak. You can even powder or chalk the area so you can tell if any fluid comes out.

You could let it sit with cold water in it for a while first, but some leaks only leak when they are hot.

Then, when you are done, put the boiled water (let it cool a bit first) into sanitized 1 gallon jugs and save it on the shelf. Next time you come up shy, you will have a handy room temperature jug of boiled water to top off with, which will be safe and convenient.

Also, you can use the boiled water (if stored in glass) to wash yeast if you are into that sort of thing.