Stirring.
I use a whisk to stir down the foam. I have successfully kept my wort from boiling over even though it filled to within 3/4" of the top. As it approaches boil, watch constantly. Turn you back for a second and you get to clean the floor again.
Hahah Thanks. I thought so too …. So I put it all over the wall and floor.
That was the lesson I learned from that brew day: “don’t… no, seriously, do not, under any circumstances turn/look away from 203° water”.
Not my experience at all. I watch carefully as the wort nears the boil and stir down the foam until the boil get started, then drop in a single hop pellet. At that point the foam rises again very quickly and I have to stir it down again. Once that has settled down, I can add the rest of the hops, watching for foam buildup and stirring it down one last time. The only time I couldn't keep ahead of the foam by stirring was when I tried a batch with "first wort" hops.
Does the mash paddle thing work to prevent boil overs? Because that’s a pretty simple hack. Thanks for the heads up on that one. I’m still probably gonna get some fermcap though, for extra insurance.
The harder part is keeping it from boiling over like spaghetti or something
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That tube is my recirculation pump, I kept it on there to use in conjunction with the wort chiller.
I find it does. Just like cooking pasta on the stove. You still need to control the heat and watch it.
When I built my first keggle I did the same thing but; with a longer tube... just kept it below the surface to recirc and whirlpool, then lift it out and drop it in the fermenter. It worked well so I installed a dedicated port and 3-way valve. If your tube isn't long enough to get below the surface, @Bobby_M has a nice inexpensive option;
This is a good point. I normally have my house shoes on when brewing but didn’t when I took the picture…for whatever reason.
