So, I just thought I would share my experience brewing today, as it wasn't the most succesful.
I've only brewed a few Cooper's kits so far, and an all wort kit, so today I thought I would try an extract kit from a local store, called West Island IPA. It a pre-hopped kit they make themselves, all extract. It weighed 3kg, and had hop pellets floating in it.
The instructions said to bring to a boil mixed with 2-3 liters of water, and to boil 5 minutes in order to pasteurize. Then to throw into fermenter with some cold water and top to 23L. While I did that I steeped some carastan grains it came with.
The problem is, my stock pot is only 1.75 gallons big, so instead of boiling the extract with 2-3 liters of water, I could only put 1.5 liters, and this left me with about 4 inches of headspace.
I slowly brought to boil, expecting a boil over, which eventually came. I took it right off the heat, and tried to spray it with some one-step I had in a spray bottle as a last ditch effort, but to no avail. It boiled over and made a mess. I turned down the heat, waited a bit longer, and put it back on the heat. It boiled over again. And then again. I almost threw the whole thing out in frustration. I tried one more time, and for some reason, it decided NOT to boil over, and I managed to boil it for 5 minutes. Suffice it to say, my ceramic stove top is a mess.
I poured it into my fermenter, and poured some ice cold water I had prepared, and topped off to 22L ( a liter less as I lost some wort to the boil over ). I checked the temp, and it was at 89f! I quickly prepared a swamp cooler, and within an hour it dropped to about 82, so I pitched my yeast ( s-05). I know its not ideal, but I didn't want to wait too long.
Oh did I mention I forgot to check the OG?
So ya, Just wanted to share. Hopefully it will turn out OK. Its a west coast style IPA, so hopefully the bitterness and hoppyness will hide any off flavors.
Any tips for avoiding boilover? I'm shopping for a big stock pot, but I've heard of ferm caps, do those work well?
Thanks for reading!
I've only brewed a few Cooper's kits so far, and an all wort kit, so today I thought I would try an extract kit from a local store, called West Island IPA. It a pre-hopped kit they make themselves, all extract. It weighed 3kg, and had hop pellets floating in it.
The instructions said to bring to a boil mixed with 2-3 liters of water, and to boil 5 minutes in order to pasteurize. Then to throw into fermenter with some cold water and top to 23L. While I did that I steeped some carastan grains it came with.
The problem is, my stock pot is only 1.75 gallons big, so instead of boiling the extract with 2-3 liters of water, I could only put 1.5 liters, and this left me with about 4 inches of headspace.
I slowly brought to boil, expecting a boil over, which eventually came. I took it right off the heat, and tried to spray it with some one-step I had in a spray bottle as a last ditch effort, but to no avail. It boiled over and made a mess. I turned down the heat, waited a bit longer, and put it back on the heat. It boiled over again. And then again. I almost threw the whole thing out in frustration. I tried one more time, and for some reason, it decided NOT to boil over, and I managed to boil it for 5 minutes. Suffice it to say, my ceramic stove top is a mess.
I poured it into my fermenter, and poured some ice cold water I had prepared, and topped off to 22L ( a liter less as I lost some wort to the boil over ). I checked the temp, and it was at 89f! I quickly prepared a swamp cooler, and within an hour it dropped to about 82, so I pitched my yeast ( s-05). I know its not ideal, but I didn't want to wait too long.
Oh did I mention I forgot to check the OG?
So ya, Just wanted to share. Hopefully it will turn out OK. Its a west coast style IPA, so hopefully the bitterness and hoppyness will hide any off flavors.
Any tips for avoiding boilover? I'm shopping for a big stock pot, but I've heard of ferm caps, do those work well?
Thanks for reading!
