Lesson Learned, Not Telling The Story

[torilen]

So, I don't REALLY need to explain the stupid thing I did, and talk
about the tremendous mess I made, right? I can just say I learned
my lesson, and we'll all leave it at that, right?

 

[JDXX1971]

Pictures or you didn't learn nothing, right?

 

[MrBJones]

Come on...spill (figuratively; sounds as if you've had enough literal)! We've all had a good "dopey me" moment!

 

[torilen]

I've already cleaned up, so no pictures. BUT.....

I made a porter today. It'll be 1-1/2 gallons total. Aside from the steeping grains,
I put 4# Amber LME and 1 full cup of sugar...wanted to make it nice and strong.
To give it a little extra "real" coffee flavor, I put one heaping tablespoon of decaf
coffee in. (I have a big tea strainer to get the grounds out...so wasn't worried
about that problem).

The problem I did not foresee was the coffee interacting with all that sugar and
creating a giant foam on top of the brew. Before I realized it was happening,
foam spilled out over all edges, coating the outside of the pot with sugary, sticky
foam and coffee grounds (and some of the hops, unfortunately), and go all over
the burner on the stove.

Ugh. What a mess it was, let me tell you. Managed to save the brew and finish
the boil.

 

[philly224]

As long as you saved the brew that's all that matters

 

[Sammy86]

As long as you saved the brew that's all that matters

This and as long as the SWMBO doesn’t know/wasn’t upset you’re fine!

 

[Pkrd]

This and as long as the SWMBO doesn’t know/wasn’t upset you’re fine!

Yeah, and if you're going to keep doing stuff like that find a competent divorce lawyer now.

 

[Pappers_]

5 Star makes a defoamer that works well, put a couple of drops in your brew kettle and you won't boil over.

http://www.fivestarchemicals.com/breweries/homebrewing/products/

 

[Mike_kever_kombi]

Don’t even get me started on how I “learnt” to make sure the ball valve is closed on the boil kettle. I also learned multitasking is not all it’s cracked up to be.

 

[ancientmariner52]

Don’t even get me started on how I “learnt” to make sure the ball valve is closed on the boil kettle. I also learned multitasking is not all it’s cracked up to be.

Yeah, I learned that one, too. Learned it several times, so far. [emoji16]

 

[Kirkwooder]

Just hope that it's not the best beer you have ever tasted. You don't want to try and recreate it.

 

[seatazzz]

The defoamers (like fermcap) work well, but I "learnt" a long time ago to also have a water spray bottle handy as soon as the thermometer on the boil kettle reaches 195...turn away for a skinny second and the boilover has put out the flame on the burner, and the sugar ants that hide somewhere in my house have a new party spot.

 

[SleepyCreekBrews]

Never mind the cleanup, One of the biggest problems with early-boil boilovers is that all the bittering hops leave the kettle with the foam.

 

[torilen]

SleepyCreekBrews - I knew that a lot of them got out with the foam. And I wasn't really sure what to do at that point. I put some hops in my beer, but I like beer that is light on the hops. I was afraid to put more in and have it turn out way too hoppy. I compromised....I added my second batch of hops with 20 minutes left instead of only 10 minutes left. Maybe that will balance out what was lost? We'll see.

 

[CJ-3]

I've already cleaned up, so no pictures. BUT.....

I made a porter today. It'll be 1-1/2 gallons total. Aside from the steeping grains,
I put 4# Amber LME and 1 full cup of sugar...wanted to make it nice and strong.
To give it a little extra "real" coffee flavor, I put one heaping tablespoon of decaf
coffee in. (I have a big tea strainer to get the grounds out...so wasn't worried
about that problem).

The problem I did not foresee was the coffee interacting with all that sugar and
creating a giant foam on top of the brew. Before I realized it was happening,
foam spilled out over all edges, coating the outside of the pot with sugary, sticky
foam and coffee grounds (and some of the hops, unfortunately), and go all over
the burner on the stove.

Ugh. What a mess it was, let me tell you. Managed to save the brew and finish
the boil.

I do believe this is a clear violation of your thread title as you have in fact told the story.
2nd lesson learned?

As penance you will be required to check back into this thread at a later date and let us know how the beer turned out.

 

[SleepyCreekBrews]

SleepyCreekBrews - I knew that a lot of them got out with the foam. And I wasn't really sure what to do at that point. I put some hops in my beer, but I like beer that is light on the hops. I was afraid to put more in and have it turn out way too hoppy. I compromised....I added my second batch of hops with 20 minutes left instead of only 10 minutes left. Maybe that will balance out what was lost? We'll see.

Thats not a bad response. In reality, it's almost impossible to know exactly what to do, so like all of us, you have to wing it.
For community knowledge , had you already gotten through the hot-break when you added the coffee?, or was this before hot-break?
As far as boilovers, that old adage holds true, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

 

[MaryB]

Homebrewers who haven't had a boil over are just waiting their turn at the one moment of distraction!

 

[torilen]

SleepyCreek - I had to look up "hot break" - hehe...only been brewing beer for about a year, so I'm not fully knowledgeable with the terminology yet. This was actually the first time I've noticed protein particles floating around in the wort. Maybe I just never noticed it before, I don't know.

Thinking back on this hard, though...I want to say I added the coffee right in the middle. There were still particles floating around when I added the coffee, if I remember correctly. There was not any foam until after I add the grounds.

 

[JohnSand]

The "best" boil-overs are onto a glass-top stove, when it burns on. A razor scraper helps.

 

[torilen]

Hey JohnSand - that's where it happened. hahaha.

 

[JohnSand]

LOL

 

[MaryB]

Garage floor! Hose! Broom it out the door LOL

 

[kh54s10]

I (Slowly) learned not to be responding to posts on HBT while the wort comes to a boil. It took several times for me to learn that....

 

[Northern_Brewer]

SleepyCreekBrews - I knew that a lot of them got out with the foam. And I wasn't really sure what to do at that point.

Isomerised hop extract is really handy for adjusting bitterness on the cold side - it adds 3-4 IBU per ml in 5 gallons. I've used it to adjust for some hops that had been stored badly (not by me!) but some people (including big-name commercial breweries) use it for all their bittering additions, it works about at about the same price as bittering hops and you save some boil time and lose the vegetable matter.

Anti-foam is definitely your friend - I use anti-wind medication containing simet(h)icone, which is the same stuff that is in the brewing antifoams but is cheaper and available in the local supermarket...