Looking for some tips to avoid those nasty boil overs

[vasie]

Hello all,

I recently posted on my brewblog (brewbaron.wordpress.com) some simple tips to avoid boil overs. In response to my post, someone has asked me for some tips to avoid boil overs when creating high-grav starters. I have never had this trouble so I pose this question to you all. If you have a tried-and-true method of preventing boil overs when making starters or full-boils, please let me know. Thanks in advance.

 

[Monster Mash]

The best way to prevent a boil over whan making a starter is to boil in a seperate container and then transfer into your flask but you should not be making high gravity starters anyways. A starter should be 1.035 - 1.040 so you don't stress the yeast.

I can my starter wort so when I make starters I just pop open a few jars and pour in the yeast, it is much quicker and easier to make starters that way.

 

[Brewer3401]

I always use Erlenmeyer flasks, which are really bad for boilovers (due to the narrowing at the top - they look like an inverted V).

I always have a fat straw handy. As soon as the boil begins, I turn down the fire. Most of the time, I get the residual heat and the bubbles begin to come up. Blowing inside of the flask kills the boil (don't do it straight overhead or you'll steam your face - I only had to do that once).

I've used food grade silicone antifoam, but I just use a straw. Less crap in the beer.

 

[Thalon]

If by 'full boils' you're talking about a 5 gallon batch of wort, stirring every couple minutes seems to work well for me. Papazian's book says that a rigorous boil should move the liquid around enough so you shouldn't have to stir, but when I heeded that advice I kept getting boil-overs. But then my brother-in-law (who also brews) came over to brew with me, and he said the bottom of the boil pot scorches some of the wort and causes it to boil over. So with a good figure-8 stir once in a while you ensure all the wort is moving around the hot spots.

 

[2nd Street Brewery]

Use a bigger pot.


















Sorry, someone had to say it.

 

[Blender]

I use a sprayer with water to stop boilovers. It works well and better than stirring in my experience.

 

[FlyingHorse]

Use a bigger pot.

Sorry, someone had to say it.

There is no pot big enough to eliminate the possibility of a boilover. People on this board have boiled over a 5-gal batch in a keggle. And I personally have boiled over a 5-barrel batch in a 15-barrel kettle (that's 310 gallons of headspace).

A bigger kettle will help you catch them and eliminate some of them, but if someone thinks springing for a monster kettle means they won't have to watch their boil any more, well...

 

[DublOh7]

A clip-on fan will prevent boilovers. Go to WalMart or wherever, and buy a little plug-in-the-wall fan that has a clip on the base. They usually are about 5 inches in diameter. If you're lucky, you can find one that's bright green or maybe pink with stars on it, ha, ha.
Clip it on the top of your kettle and plug it in. Crank up the heat, there won't be any need to stir with a full, rolling boil, yet you cannot boil over.

Unless you're trying to boil 4.75 gallons in a 5 gallon pot!

 

[feedthebear]

I've gotten so that I can do a 4 gallon boil in a 5 gallon pot. I have to stir a lot as it get close to the boil. Then I have to lift the pot up and down a couple times so it slowly crosses into the boil. I also have a large glass of cool water standing by. I pour it into the foam to break up the surface tension.

With starters, I just barely bring it up to the boil and then shut it off. The main reasons for the heat are to disolve the DME and to sterilize the starter wort. And really, both can be done by a lower temperature pasturization.

 

[cpbergie]

Water in a spray bottle works wonders.

 

[Kayos]

Water in a spray bottle works wonders.

Second that...or third, I guess. Just spray as it starts to boil and watch the surface tension of the boil break and cool.

 

[Jaybird]

I use a sprayer with water to stop boilovers. It works well and better than stirring in my experience.

if you drink and drive your gonna crash sometime... ya ya I dont know where that came from but its true. I use the spray bottle method and I use a thermometer to check temp when I reach about 205 I start to turn down the heat and stand close by.
JJ

 

[FlyingHorse]

A clip-on fan will prevent boilovers. Go to WalMart or wherever, and buy a little plug-in-the-wall fan that has a clip on the base. They usually are about 5 inches in diameter. If you're lucky, you can find one that's bright green or maybe pink with stars on it, ha, ha.
Clip it on the top of your kettle and plug it in. Crank up the heat

You're stovetop boiling, right? I have a hard time believing that plastic fan is going to survive the heat of a 100k+ BTU propane burner.

there won't be any need to stir with a full, rolling boil, yet you cannot boil over.

Cannot? Your hubris has been duly noted by the brewing gods. Good luck cleaning your stove

 

[david_the_greek]

I actually did my firsts brew last night and had way too much water for the size pot I was working with. Probably not more than 1-1.5 inches to start with. needless to say I was close by untill the hot break occurred. Stired VERY well and didn't have one boil over hah I love this annoying little banana icon. After the hot break I didn't watch it and it didn't watch me.

 

[mot]

ferm-S .........

 

[vasie]

Thanks for all the good tips..

 

[HopKing]

Thanks for the tips!
I just completed my second batch (6.25 gal boil) with no boil over this time. More frequent stirring and lightly spraying water from a spray bottle when a boil over threatened did the trick!
My first batch looked like a valcano eruption! I thought F.E.M.A. was going to show up and begin evacuating Tusa Ok. and surrounding areas!

 

[BierMuncher]

Three batches ago I decided to give this whole "skim the scum" routine a try. As the wort heats up, you get this thick foam on top that begins to get thicker. It's that foam that causes the viloent boil overs. I simply dipped in a ladle and skimmed off that foam and dumped it into a pot. I kept this up for about 5 minutes and ended up with about 8 Oz's of this liquid foam.

No boilovers.

 

[vasie]

Three batches ago I decided to give this whole "skim the scum" routine a try. As the wort heats up, you get this thick foam on top that begins to get thicker. It's that foam that causes the viloent boil overs. I simply dipped in a ladle and skimmed off that foam and dumped it into a pot. I kept this up for about 5 minutes and ended up with about 8 Oz's of this liquid foam.

No boilovers.

I hadn't heard that one yet. I give it a try next time around.

 

[thebikingengineer]

Is that the hot break proteins starting to coagulate on the top of the wort? Sounds like that could be it, and it would explain the non-boiling over of BM.

 

[vasie]

Is that the hot break proteins starting to coagulate on the top of the wort? Sounds like that could be it, and it would explain the non-boiling over of BM.

That is what I assume is the case.