All Grain - What to do when overshooting preboil volume?

I'm not talking about multiple gallons or anything. But lets say after my sparge I get an extra .5 gallons of wort in my kettle. Can I simply start my boil, let it boil down to my target preboil volume and then proceed with my first hop addition and 60 minute boil timer? Aside from darkening my beer, is there any problem with this?

brevity said:

I'm not talking about multiple gallons or anything. But lets say after my sparge I get an extra .5 gallons of wort in my kettle. Can I simply start my boil, let it boil down to my target preboil volume and then proceed with my first hop addition and 60 minute boil timer? Aside from darkening my beer, is there any problem with this?

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Yep. If you know your boil-off rate you can estimate the extra time needed to boil-off your excess volume pretty accurately.

I had a real bad problem my first "Triple" and had 3 or 4 gallons to many... (I was new to all-grain and went all-out)...

I set up a second pot and boiled both until I hit my volume.

As stated it really did change the color and if i screwed up that bad again I would go pour in some Dark Belgian Syrup and turn it in to a Strong Ale...

BUT half a gallon? I would taste it and see if it is sweet... if so reduce it on the stove and add it later... if not toss it.... since there is probably not enough sugar in it to bother with...

brevity said:

Can I simply start my boil, let it boil down to my target preboil volume and then proceed with my first hop addition and 60 minute boil timer?

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Depends on the pre boil gravity.

brevity said:

I'm not talking about multiple gallons or anything. But lets say after my sparge I get an extra .5 gallons of wort in my kettle. Can I simply start my boil, let it boil down to my target preboil volume and then proceed with my first hop addition and 60 minute boil timer? Aside from darkening my beer, is there any problem with this?

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With .5 gallons I would not worry about it. Plus, do you have your boil off rate that locked in that you can be precise?

Also, why did you keep running off into the kettle? Easier to simply leave some of the sparge water in the mash tun. Then if you find out that you are boiling off more than expected, you can add some of the remaining water to the boil.

It depends on if I hit my preboil gravity.

If I did, then I change nothing, and make extra beer.

If my preboil gravity is too low, I extend the boil off rate to reach my anticipated OG. I have slight variations in boil off rate, so I have a range I'm shooting for. So if its just a little off, I let it ride.

If my preboil gravity is too high, I can add water to to adjust, then do my normal boil. And make extra beer.


So basically, I use preboil gravity, and anticipated OG to determine what I do with my boil.

Thank you all very much for the info.