ended up with too much wort today.

I had a problem with my brew day today. I collected more wort than would fit into my pot. I usually max at around 6.75 gallons in my 30 qt turkey fryer. Well today was more like 7.75 gallons. I'm not sure how it happened, but I mis calculated or mis measured something (not important and not my question).

I had to decide on a plan. Don't use the extra wort, boil it separately, or slowly add it to the kettle as room permits. I chose to slowly add it throughout the brew. Don't know if it was the best choice.

The recipe called for a 75 minute boil, I boiled for 95 minutes to bring the volume down. I added more wort every 10 to 15 minutes until it was all in. That meant I was fighting boil overs the entire boil. Not fun!

Apparently I didn't boil it long enough. After pitching my starter, I have just shy of 6 gallons in the fermenter (blow off tube is installed). Also I missed my og. Recipe called for 1.071, I got 1.061. My efficiency was close to normal, but could be better. I think that if I would have boiled off another half gallon or so, I would have been much closer to my OG, and not been at the top of my carboy.

So the question isn't why I missed my og (pretty obvious I didn't boil down enough), it isn't why my efficiency sucks (working on that seperately). The question is what should I have done when I realized I had more wort than would fit into the pot. I don't think my plan of slowly adding it in worked very well at all.

This hasn't really happened to me before but why would you replace wort the you are boiling away? I probably just would have tossed the extra wort because the boiled wort and the extra wort should have the same amount of extract i believe.

I would have done the same as you, which I did once before. I also made the same mistake of having to much wort due to different evaporation rates which varies based on how much moisture your surrounding air can contain. My solution was to notch my kettle spoon so that I always know how much wort I have in the kettle. No guessing. Now the way I boil: I keep an eye on the clock and I add my bittering hops at the normal interval. Having my notches worked out on my spoon I then eye the wort volume so that I can guage the evaporation rate. If I need to boil longer than I add my flavor hops later. I always shoot for 5.5 gallons of wort in the fermenter. Basically I keep track of the time interval and the amount I have left. So when I have 6 gallons left I know I have 20-30 minutes left based on the evaportaion rate that I was tracking. If you develop your own feel for this technique you should never miscalculate again but you will be able to compensate for any miscalculations by changing your boil time. Just don't add the flavoring or aroma hops to soon or you beer will not taste the way you want it to.

I would have put the extra in a pot and boiled on the stove while the rest boiled on my burner outside. Once it could all fit I would have added the small portion to the mail boil.

Why would I have done this...just to make the house smell like a malty boil to annoy my wife.