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We boil ~56 gallons and end up with 48-49 in the fermentor. We use ~55 gallon plastic cylindroconicals. We routinely have krausen blowing through the lids due to no blowoff tubes. Use blowoff tubes and give yourself 5+ gallons of headspace. Consider seals to keep lids more air tight.

Well folks, today was a quiet day. Which is somewhat of a revelation, since my brew days typically involve a rather loud propane burner! I cranked my gas waaaay back and put the lid most of the way on, and still have a good amount of movement in the kettle. It is amazing how much quieter this...

Hopefully you were able to oxygenate the heck out of it pre-pitching. That will help prevent stalling later on, especially for big beers. It may take 3 weeks or more for a huge beer like yours to finish primary.

Have you smelled your starter wort before pitching? Did you scorch the starter and maybe are now smelling some of those burnt aromas? It may be you are smelling DMS or other sulfur aroma. Crash and decant before pitching.

I am using a 15 gallon Spike Brewing kettle. It is not wider than it is tall, but because the diameter of the pot itself is larger than my previous kettle, there is simply more surface area exposed regardless off the diameter/height ratio.

Getting there :mug:

Not necessarily the volume of boiloff per se, but the violence of the boil that caused the excessive vaporization is what I believe may be the issue.

I went from boiling in an 8 gallon kettle to boiling the same batch size in a 15 gallon kettle. It would have to be an absolute chimney of a 15 gallon pot to not increase the exposed surface area :D. I think one reason the boils have been so violent in this pot is certainly the increased...

Awesome info, thanks everyone. Will reduce the boil vigor and partially cover next time.

That may indeed be the case. It seems my idea of a rolling boil is actually considered a violent boil. Will trim way back on the gas next batch and see if that helps. Thanks!

I recently switched to a 15 gallon stainless steel kettle for 5 gallon batches, and one unanticipated consequence is a greatly increased boiloff volume. For a 60-minute boil, I have had to collect 7.5-8 gallons of wort in order to finish with 5.5 gallons going into the fermentor. I have also...

Realizing now that I just may need more roasted malts to get the roasted flavor I am looking for in a beer this size. Will bump the roast to ~20% for the next batch instead of ~13%.

No worries, I appreciate your help!

I used 2 tsp total for ~9.5 gallons, so slightly more than 1tsp per 5 gallons. I do collect my runnings in a separate aluminum pot and pour them from there into the stainless steel kettle before boiling. Could that be causing enough hot side aeration to cause problems? I have used this method in...

Hello all, Getting back into the all-grain game after a few year hiatus. I have been having issues the past few batches with boring watery results after fermentation. This is especially odd considering I have been brewing stouts which should have pretty robust roasty character. I have read that...