Adventures in Brewing....the dreaded BO

Welllllllllllll, I had read of others having had a dreaded boil over. It didn't happen to me and in fact, never came close....until Saturday. I think I had too much water in the brew pot. Got a boil going, added all the stuff, good to go. Then, I added the bittering hops. Hops, that's an interesting word because the foam "hopped" right out of the pot and all over the stove. Holy crap!!!! This stuff is like crazy glue when it dries. I tried blowing on it when I saw it rise, but resulted in blowing foam all over the back splash. But, while cleaning, I noticed I had lost quit a bit of bittering hops so I left the finishing hops in a little longer to try and balance out the loss. What could be the outcome of this batch of brew? It's a Weizenbier kit from BB. Super sweet? It's in the primary and bubbling away like a rabid dog in heat.

Just as a future-refence kind of thing, I keep a spray bottle filled with water next to the stove now. Knocks the crap out of boilovers a lot better than blowing on it!

One of the best tips I've picked up from this board...

Keep a spray bottle full of water near your brewpot. When the boil starts to build, give it a few sprays! Works like a charm.

I had one bad boilover on my first batch. SWMBO almost killed me

The only bad boilover I've had was making a starter. My stove doesn't have the ballz to boil over three gallons of wort!

I boil in a Burco electric 5 gal boiler, wait for it to boil then stick in the hops, it rises like mad so I just back off & on the power until it settles then it cruises away for the boil duration without any problem. I think it rises until the oxygen is driven off then it becomes more stable

I've heard putting a few copper pennies in the kettle will prevent boil overs too. As long as the pennies are COPPER, it'll be good as a yeast nutrient as well.

To eleborate on what Dude said.... cents starting in 1982 are copper coated zink. Don't use these.

Ol' Grog said:

Hops, that's an interesting word because the foam "hopped" right out of the pot and all over the stove. Holy crap!!!!

Click to expand...

I like your use of words.

You did probably lose some of the bittering properties of your hops but I don't know how one could determine the amount of loss. Your beer may be more malty than sweet because of this, there is a difference.