Big boil off ... need opinions

[Jtvann]

So the weather is getting nice. I've been brewing in my basement since October. Just moved all my gear out into the garage to be able to enjoy a nice cigar while brewing. Just ran my wet test for boil off rates and other losses just for the heck of it, and I went from .75 per hour to about 1.75 per hour boil off. I live in a desert, so its dry.

In my basement I've been using a steam condenser with the lid on the pot the whole boil. In my garage, it's all open. Sure, I could just cap it, but I'm using a brew boss type system and I splurged for the hops boss accessory. I'd like to use it. I'm kinda fearful that fly sparging another whole gallon of water will put my pH in the danger zone for extracting nasties.

I could reduce power for my boil off rate, but I doubt itll do more than about a quarter gallon

Thoughts?

 

[day_trippr]

If you're determined to live with the higher boil-off rate, rather than increase the sparge volume, increase the strike volume to account for the rate change. That should put you back where you were in the basement wrt sparging.

But if you could still make your post boil volume and SG with it consider going with a lower boil-off rate and avoid the higher thermal stress on the wort. The steam condenser is a brilliant enabling tool for that.

As for the hop boss, have you see @Die_Beerery's rig with a modified hop boss running on BruControl?



Cheers!

 

[Gnomebrewer]

If you're determined to live with the higher boil-off rate, rather than increase the sparge volume, increase the strike volume to account for the rate change. That should put you back where you were in the basement wrt sparging.
Cheers!

Or top up the boil kettle with water to get to your pre-boil volume....

I haven't seen a brew boss system, so disregard this if it doesn't apply: can you run the heating element through a voltage controller (reduce the voltage, hence boil intensity)?
Edit: as day_trippr alluded to, reducing the boil intensity/boil off rate is probably preferable to limit the thermal stress on the wort. Is thermal stress a real thing? I haven't seen any studies to back it up, but my own brewing experience leads me to believe that it is.

 

[Jtvann]

If you're determined to live with the higher boil-off rate, rather than increase the sparge volume, increase the strike volume to account for the rate change. That should put you back where you were in the basement wrt sparging.

But if you could still make your post boil volume and SG with it consider going with a lower boil-off rate and avoid the higher thermal stress on the wort. The steam condenser is a brilliant enabling tool for that.

As for the hop boss, have you see @Die_Beerery's rig with a modified hop boss running on BruControl?

Dont think theres any way to use both the steam condenser and hops boss at the same time. Steam condenser needs a sealed system so a vaccum can be created, and hops boss needs an opening. It's one or the other.

I can up my strike volume easily. Will also tone down the boil so that it's less vigorous. Looks like I'll be playing with a few water runs to get it right.



Cheers!

 

[day_trippr]

fwiw, I believe @Die_Beerery planned on sticking a solenoid operated valve between the dropper and the kettle port to solve that problem...

Cheers!

 

[bannonb]

I brew in Denver...as dry as many deserts.

I use Beersmith 2.0 and use the evaporation setting of 1.25 gallons per hour regularly. I know that for a 6 gallon batch I will start with a boil volume of 8 gallons or so, with a boiloff of 1.25 gallons, trub loss of .5 gallons and 4% shrinkage due to cooling...and I get consistently close to my finished volume of 6 gallons. I let the program tell me how much strike water to use, and the grains and hops are adjusted according to my expected efficiency.

I have such a difficult time finding a reasonable PH measurement scheme that I don't bother anymore. I've tried ph5.2 granules and I get the same readings on ph strips as if I didn't do anything. I guess we have to let go and let God!

As I understand it, you need to leave the lid off to boil off much of the DMS potential (dimethyl sulfide) and live with the loss of water...just make sure your hop addition accounts for the volumes.

A brewing program like Beersmith lets brewers dial in their equipment so we can hit the target gravity and volume within a small window for every recipe. It makes composing recipes and tracking your performance pretty simple.

BannonB