Boil... Lid or No Lid?

[bizmark23]

I have seen some different opinions on doing your 60min boil w/the lid on or off your kettle. Overall, seems like no lid is def the way to go. Heres the question. Im doing my first batch tomorrow (Cant wait!) and im dialing in my equipment tonight, doing a test run w/water to make sure im good to go tomorrow. I have noticed that right now its taking about 90 min to get the water from 140d to a boil (not quite there yet).

Is it ok to lid the kettle to get to a boil and then remove lid for the 60 min boil or better to just leave the lid off the entire time?

Thanks in advance for the help! Everyone on here has been a great help and reference and im pretty confident going into my first brew b/c of it!

Cheers!

 

[greenhaze]

I brewed my first couple of weeks ago. Left the lid off the whole time. Took it a long time to boil which allowed me to drink a few beers while waiting.
Good luck tomorrow
Slainte

 

[jubelale]

You can leave the lid on until boil then remove it. It will significantly reduce the waiting time with no issues. Just make sure to watch for boil overs.

 

[filterban]

Lid on is fine while heating (watch for boil overs), but you should remove it once boiling starts because it will cause boiling at a lower temp.

 

[bizmark23]

Thanks everyone... I also adjusted my burner a little bit and started picking up the pace once I did that. Prob gonna be off a little now with my boil off amounts but at least Ive learned to work w/my equipment a little bit! Better do it now instead of tomorrow w/a brew on the burner. I know mistakes are gonna happen, just trying to minimize!

Thanks again... Cheers!

 

[jbsayers]

The biggest reason to leave the lid off during the boil is to allow the sulfur compounds to boil off as they are made. If you leave the lid on they will condensate on the lid and fall back into your brew. Those same sulfur compounds are the same reason that cooling your wort after the boil should be done as fast as possible. Cooling quickly shortens the time period where the temp of the wort promotes those compounds forming. Hope this helps you understand more of the "why" of the process and not just the "what."

JB

 

[bizmark23]

The biggest reason to leave the lid off during the boil is to allow the sulfur compounds to boil off as they are made. If you leave the lid on they will condensate on the lid and fall back into your brew. Those same sulfur compounds are the same reason that cooling your wort after the boil should be done as fast as possible. Cooling quickly shortens the time period where the temp of the wort promotes those compounds forming. Hope this helps you understand more of the "why" of the process and not just the "what."

JB

Thanks JB... Thats the exact reason I was asking the question. I know that DMS will evaporate during the boil and my thought process was that it would still do so as long as I leave the lid off during the 60min boil. Funny, I just found a new post that I hadnt seen yet and now I def think I will leave the lid off even getting to boil after reading it.

Thanks again for trying to explain the "whys". Thats why Im starting to brew... if I just wanted good beer I can buy that around the corner, Im really into the process behind it all.

Hopefully making the adjustments on my burner and taking into account it was cooler temps last night I think Ill be ok. After all was said and done I was right where I wanted to be. 2g of boil off put me right on the money at 5g total volume at the end of the boil. Was surprised, def thought I was going to be off.

Thanks again everyone and Cheers.

 

[unionrdr]

If you're using tap water in the BK,then leaving the lid off allows the chlorine to boil off as well. Chloromine won't boil off. Some think when using extracts,that DMS isn't an issue. It may well not be,as I've had to keep the lid part way on the BK to get the 5G BK to boil 3 gallons of water/wort with the old burners. The new ones seem to heat faster & more evenly. So that may change a little. It depends on how much resistence your electric stove's heating elements have as to how fast they get hot.

 

[duboman]

If you're using tap water in the BK,then leaving the lid off allows the chlorine to boil off as well. Chloromine won't boil off. Some think when using extracts,that DMS isn't an issue. It may well not be,as I've had to keep the lid part way on the BK to get the 5G BK to boil 3 gallons of water/wort with the old burners. The new ones seem to heat faster & more evenly. So that may change a little. It depends on how much resistence your electric stove's heating elements have as to how fast they get hot.

It's my understanding DMS is not an issue in extract brewing because the DMS was already boiled off during the process of making the extract, I'm not recommending boil with lid on, just adding my .02

 

[unionrdr]

That's the explanation I've been seeing here as well. I'm starting to think that's true,from my own experiences.

 

[jbsayers]

That's true and it isn't. DMS is made from precursors when the temps favor the reaction. When the DMS forms it is volatile and evaporates fairly easy. There is a window though where you turn off the heat and start cooling the wort where the temp favors the reaction but the DMS isn't boiling off. With DME, I'd imagine those precursors are still present and once the boil kicks off you might face the same issue as AG.

Worth thinking about anyway. Hopefully somebody more knowledgeable will chime in.

JB

 

[unionrdr]

If that's true,then in my 2.5-3G boils,it must be fairly minimal. Being a sulfer compound,it's presence would be obvious. Never got any myself. Not to say it can't happen. Just hasn't to this point,hence my comments.

 

[duboman]

That's true and it isn't. DMS is made from precursors when the temps favor the reaction. When the DMS forms it is volatile and evaporates fairly easy. There is a window though where you turn off the heat and start cooling the wort where the temp favors the reaction but the DMS isn't boiling off. With DME, I'd imagine those precursors are still present and once the boil kicks off you might face the same issue as AG.

Worth thinking about anyway. Hopefully somebody more knowledgeable will chime in.

JB

Interesting....

Would the same hold true for LME as well? I'm an AG brewer anyway so I always have a vigorous boil without lid but still curious about this.

 

[Brew-Jay]

Purely for reference, I brewed my first batch in August and left the kettle lid partially on for the entire boil (not knowing any better). I've been drinking it for a week or so and it's delicious. So the moral of the story (and a theme you will get throughout this forum and others) is that the odds are, even if you make some mistakes, you will end up with beer. And that ain't bad! Good luck with brew #1. May there always be excuses to continue to seek perfection!

 

[evrose]

... but you should remove it once boiling starts because it will cause boiling at a lower temp.

The presence or absence of a lid has ZERO effect on the boiling point of the wort. Zero.

 

[unionrdr]

Only insomuch as the contained steam seems to get it to boil where no lid takes a lot longer. Especially on the average electric stove.

 

[evrose]

Only insomuch as the contained steam seems to get it to boil where no lid takes a lot longer. Especially on the average electric stove.

Right... but that's not the same as changing the boiling point, which is what the person was claiming. It's picking nits, but still...