Boil over; How much is "bad"?

[UncHellMatt]

Swear to $deity I turn my back for a minute to use the bathroom, and my wort boiled over. Looks like about 1 cup boiled out and a few ounces of my hops off the top. How bad is boiling over? As I recall in the Charlie book he mentions boiling over as being not a good thing. I've scraped my spoon along the bottom of my pot to see if there's anything stuck to the bottom, make sure I haven't burned anything, and it seems fine.

Damn these electric stoves..

 

[Golddiggie]

At what point during the boil was this??? How much hops did you have in there that you could lose a few ounces??

Personally, I've not had any wort boil over... With my last batch I used fermcap, to ensure I wouldn't have it (plus calm down the foam during fermentation)... Of course, I also make sure to not leave a boiling wort unattended...

Sounds like a good justification for getting a larger pot to me...

 

[UncHellMatt]

sorry.... Perhaps I over stated in my near "OMFG WTF?!" moment.

Not a few ounces. There is, in fact, only 1/2oz of Fuggles caps after expanding, about a tablespoon of sparge thickened hops went over the side.

This was after about 20min of boil. And I should have been more specific. This is for a 3gal batch, so a gallon of water, 4lbs of dark malt extract after 15min of boiling with a mixture of black patent and crystal (20) malt, about half lb of each.

See? It's been a while since I home brewed, and the last batch I'd done before this and the one merrily bubbling away in my side room was 15 years ago.

 

[o4_srt]

Happens to everyone at least once. Everything will be fine.

 

[UncHellMatt]

Cheers man

The pat on the back went a long way. Last batch I made way back when turned into the Great Exploding Bottle Extravaganza, so I may be a tad skittish.

 

[Golddiggie]

That does put it into perspective... Of course, there's always the mantra: RDWHAHB... Although since all your stuff is either fermenting, or still being made, it would be difficult.

I wouldn't worry about that little... You might not have the IBU's from the hops you were expecting, due to the loss, but it will still be good brew...

Time to plan your next brew day, and hardware upgrades.

 

[Golddiggie]

Hey, UncHellMatt... If you're interested, the Boston HomeBrewers meetup group could be a way for you to connect with some more brewers in the area... I'm trying to get people to agree on a day for a tour at John Harvards... Plus, I've hosted some brew days so far (won't be able to until after I move in a few months)...

 

[C-Rider]

I had a little boil over. Not a major problem cept the gooey sticky mess I had to clean up.

 

[UncHellMatt]

Thanks all for the support.

I had decided since I don't have any home brew quiet yet I would pick up a bottle of something I hadn't tried, and grabbed a bottle of one of the bourbon cask brews. After putting away half of the rather large bottle I noticed the "13% abv" on the bottle.... Perhaps that has something to do with the light headedness.

Next brew day: A couple weeks. Even if that first batch already going turns out to be crap, this one is very likely to be quiet tasty, and I have some maple syrup mead about ready to bottle. Unfortunately my kitchen leaves a lot to be desired, hence my 3 gallon batches.

Boston brewers group, eh? Not a bad idea!

EDIT: Quiet tasty? Quiet yet? Ye gods, I was in my cups last night. Large bottle of strong ale before eating any dinner = BAD idea for brewing and writing!

 

[Golddiggie]

I have yet to get a headache from my home brew... I've not made something that's 13% yet, but I do have one that's 9.7% and another 8.1%...

 

[Yooper]

I had a little boil over. Not a major problem cept the gooey sticky mess I had to clean up.

If you're married, and it's a really nice stove, then it could be a major problem!

 

[C-Rider]

If you're married, and it's a really nice stove, then it could be a major problem!

Roger that Yooper, cept it was outside on MY Colman gas stove. Yuk!

 

[Yooper]

Roger that Yooper, cept it was outside on MY Colman gas stove. Yuk!

Oh, well. No problem then!