First boil over

Happened right at the hot break just as I was adding my first hops. 4th brew, so not too bad. Now I have a stove to clean up when this is done! I lost maybe a 1/2 cup of hot break and little if any hops.

So it begins...if you keep doing it your wife will kick you into the garage which means she will begrudgingly accept the fact that you need to buy a nice all grain setup.

Bensiff said:

So it begins...if you keep doing it your wife will kick you into the garage which means she will begrudgingly accept the fact that you need to buy a nice all grain setup.

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Good one Bensiff!

She is busy making pasta right now, but it is a very real possibility I could be moved to the garage in 6 months!

I highly recommend fermcap. I fill my kettle to about an inch from the top, and I have not had a boil over since I started using fermcap in the kettle. I had about 2-3 before that. It is amazing and it lasts forever.

Also, try not to dump all the hops in at once, do a little at a time over the course of a minute, otherwise it can get crazy.

Fermcap. Works for more than just brewing. I always use it when cooking pasta as well, never a boil over.

I was slowly adding the hops, then boil over.

The SG on the wort ended up at 1.036, a little lower than I was shooting for. But hey, it's still beer.

ohpspe said:

I was slowly adding the hops, then boil over.

The SG on the wort ended up at 1.036, a little lower than I was shooting for. But hey, it's still beer.

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Nice, sometimes it just happens, trust me I have had my own share of boil-overs. Another thing to try is getting a spray bottle filled with water and hit it with the spray once it starts foaming up. That tends to work pretty well.

+1 on the spray bottle, I also use it to shoot the hop debris that clings around the side of the keggle back into the mix once the boils settles in.

Any ideas to increase the sg from 1.036? Just want to get it to 5% abv at the end. Its in primary now.

ohpspe said:

Any ideas to increase the sg from 1.036? Just want to get it to 5% abv at the end. Its in primary now.

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Depends on what you are brewing and what you want it to taste like. Adding table sugar or honey will bring up SG.

Or you can just chalk this up as a session beer and be able to drink a lot of it through an evening. It's all beer, it's all good.

Going for an Irish Red Ale, but thinking I may just chalk this one up to a learning experience and make it a session beer like was suggested.

It's still beer.

Fermentation has started at one bubble every seven seconds.

ohpspe said:

Fermentation has started at one bubble every seven seconds.

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That's nice. Stop counting bubbles; it rots the brain. Step away from the fermenter and have a beer or four and relax.