Related questions: I had my first boilover yesterday while brewing batch no. 3, an Irish Red Ale LME kit from Midwest. It came after the LME had been added, when I tossed in the bittering hops. I was standing right there with a spoon, spray bottle, and most importantly, the burner knob on the gas stove, but still -- foom! -- just that fast. It was just a little bitty boilover, but still something I could've done without. Yeah, the bit I had to clean up was a smelly stubborn PITA, woulda hated to had a real mess on my hands. As it was, I just swapped burners and cleaned up while continuing the boil uninterrupted.
Q1: I'm thinking to either add hops gradually next time, or turn off the fire when adding them, as I do when adding extract. Any comments?
Q2: The only hints of boilover I've gotten so far come when adding hops early in the boil, after that all seems well in control. When the boil "settles down to business" I feel safe in leaving it (I never leave anything totally unattended on a lit stove, so I'm not talking about going bowling or anything). Is there danger lurking I need to know about?
Q3: Yesterday I covered the kettle with a good-fitting vented lid and turned the fire way down, and the thing boiled merrily for an hour without my doing anything more than checking it two or three times. I never hear anyone talk about covering kettles, so any comments? Sure seemed to work well.
