Is it really necessary to stir the wort during the boil?

I'd love to be able to set it and forget it for a while.

Also, do you need to stir during the mash at all? I do BIAB.

 

It's good to stir it during the boil from time to time to be sure nothing is sticking/burning on the bottom. I only stir mine about every 5-7 minutes and it's always fine, just watch it closely so you don't boil over.

I do BIAB as well and I feel it's necessary to stir it every 15 min or so to get good water contact with the grain and prevent dough balls.

 

You don't need to stir the boil. As long as you have a good rolling boil, it stirs itself. I only stir for a few seconds when I make hop additions to make sure the pellet hops break up nicely.

As for the mash, you obviously need to stir during mash-in to avoid dough balls, but once you are actually doing your mash, you DO NOT want to stir, as you'll lose a ton of heat that way. You WOULD want to stir if you perform a mashout in order to regulate the core temp inside the mash.

 

...but it smells so good, how can you leave it alone!

 

I purposely don't stir during the boil. My stovetop is capable of boiling the 7+ gallons of wort, but if I stir and touch the bottom, doing so will basically disturb all of the nucleation sites and cause all of the bubbles to come up to the top at once. This means it will almost assuredly boil over.

And I always stir the mash, usually every 10 to 15 minutes or so during the hour.

 

I assume during mash you stir to ensure the heat is evenly spread throughout the grain bed??

 

With BIAB you don't want to stir;

I dough in; let it set for 10 minutes (it takes awhile for the grain to absorb all the heat) and then stir once. I then walk away until the hour mark; I stir once again and then begin to prepare for the mash out at 75 minutes.

 

Hmm first I've heard this. Why?

 

OP was asking about the boil, not the mash. (Added for clarification)

EDIT: I stand corrected. Thanks SwampassJ

 

I don't BIAB but I stir my mash at 30 minutes for an hour mash and 30 and 60 minutes for an hour and a half mash. I usually don't stir during the boil but if it's windy out or I'm starting with a large amount of wort to boil down I will stir more often because I have the burner on a higher setting.

 

I do BIAB and I stir as I am mashing in and then once at the 30 min mark and one more time as I am mashing out.. When I stir at 30 min I give it 2-3 stirs and put the lid back on quick to avoid heat loss. I use a hops spider during the boil and I stir the hops up every once in a while but that's it.

 

I stir after I add my hop pellets...it does get the boil going crazy so I keep my spoon over the center to prevent it from "spitting" out