Couldn't get Wort to rolling boil... Will it turn out fine?

So last night I made my first batch ever. It was a Brewer's Best English Brown Ale kit. I tried to follow the directions word by word just to get some confidence under my belt. However, for some reason, I could NOT get my wort to a rolling boil. I had it on my heat source on HIGH for an hour and 15 minutes and still could not reach a rolling boil. It was definitely boiling, but it was not rolling.

First Question: Did I do something wrong that would have prevented my wort from getting hot enough?

Second Question: I am still fermenting my beer, but will it turn out tasty/healthy to drink?

I have confidence that it will turn out good enough to drink, but probably wont be as flavorful as it could have been.

If you got your beer to a boil, you should be fine. The uncovered rolling boil helps to remove the DMS precursors, since you got it to boiling, I would expect that it wouldn't cause you problems.

For first questions : What size batch were you making , how many gallons where you boiling, and what was your heat source?

Second Question: Healthy - sure! Okay to drink - Wait and see. For the most part as long as your fermentation gets going and your clean and don't have any infections, at the end you should have a drinkable beer. Focus on making a drinkable beer and then tweak from there until you get your setup right.

My first batch was a canned kit that came with my deluxe brewing kit, a dunkel, already hopped. I followed all the directions for the batch, 2.5 gal water, but never could get it to a boil on my electric stove top. I just got it as hot as I could and left it for close to 90min, then pulled it off, cooled, and fermented. It actually turned out great! But after that, I moved on to a turkey fryer, which was a much better option. Never had a problem since. So, as Papazian says, relax, don't worry, have a home-brew!! (Or store bought if you don't have any yet, lol!).

I'm thinking it will be fine due to the fact that it was infact boiling.
You probably didn't do anything wrong you just don't have a strong enough heat source.
If you were doing a full 5 gallon boil (I'm guessing that you werent) you can cut back on the amount of wort you are boiling and mix the remaining water needed for the recipe in the fermenter.
I believe that this beer will turn out just fine. : )
Cheers!

The rolling boil tends to increase hop utilization, and it also drives off DMS. However, what qualifies as a 'rolling boil' is a matter of some debate. All that really matters is that there is adequate H2O evaporation (for driving off dms) and some churning of the wort (for hop utilization). Hop utilization is hotly debated, and DMS is considerably less of a worry for extract brewers (and even less of a worry for darker extracts).

The fact is that a decent extract beer could be made without any boil at all. I don't recommend doing a no-boil batch, but just know that your beer won't suffer much if at all from a low boil.

As to your second question, if the beer doesn't turn out good, it won't be because of your boil problems.

For future brews, insulate the sides of your pot/kettle with aluminum foil. Also, bringing your water to a boil in a separate pot and then pouring it into your boiling brewpot will help. I have seen 5 full gallons of wort boiling on a magic chef electric coil stovetop using foil insulation and a step-up boil and fill method.

Did you take a hydrometer reading ? It should be near to what the kit instructions state.

bosco

Thanks guys. I was boiling 2.5 gallons at the time which eventually became a 5 gallon batch. I'm not too worried about it, I just wanted to make sure I avoided any problems in the future

My first batch didn't boil and turned out fine.

Extracts were already boiled. No worry about DMS. Many people (myself included) dont even add LME at the beginning of the boil but wait for the end to add it. DME is added at the beginning of the boil. Any boil is fine for extracts. Before investing in a turkey fryer (which you might wanna look at), replace your largest electric element. Its probably old and not performing like it did when new. You will want to do this for cooking reasons too.

Thanks guys! I am moving into a new house at college so it probably doesn't have the strongest stove. I think I am just going to invest in a turkey fryer over the summer as well as a temperature controller so I can make some different types of beers efficiently, including my favorite lagers.

Do you guys think those are useful upgrades after I make a few batches?

House12 said:

For future brews, insulate the sides of your pot/kettle with aluminum foil.

Click to expand...

I know this is an old post, but IMHO aluminum foil is a great conductor (not insulator). I'd be surprised if it did much at all to keep the temp up. Unless it traps air in between?

Hardly boiling water = 212 degrees F
Rolling boiling water = 212 degrees F

The harder the boil, the faster the evaporation rate. That's all. If you boiled for an hour or so, you'll be fine.

You'll often here people talk about boiling shrimp, crawdads, or other food items and the need to get the water boiling really good so it's really hot. It's BS. Boiling water is 212 degrees F. The wort will boil at a slightly different temperature since it has solids added, but the same principle applies.