hafmpty
Well-Known Member
I have a question about boil off & evaporation rates.
In an episode of Brew Strong, John Palmer mentions George Fix's advice that an evaporation rate greater than 15% should be avoided. I found the place in An Analysis of Brewing Techniques where Fix says this.
When I brewed 10gal batches my evaporation rate was around 13%. Because of back problems, I'm moving to brewing 2.5gal batches. With a 2.5gal batch, I don't think there is any way I can get a good rolling boil and come in under the 15% mark.
From my reading, it seems most "small batch brewers" are boiling off more than 15%. My estimates are that I will have ≈4.5gal at the start of the boil. I'm assuming my boil off rate using the same burner will be about the same, perhaps a little less. But even if I were to boil off 1gal per hour, that puts me at ≈22% for the evaporation rate.
Is this a problem? Is there anything I can do to make sure my beers don't suffer from the negative flavor & stability effects of too high of an evaporation rate?
Thanks for your help!
In an episode of Brew Strong, John Palmer mentions George Fix's advice that an evaporation rate greater than 15% should be avoided. I found the place in An Analysis of Brewing Techniques where Fix says this.
When I brewed 10gal batches my evaporation rate was around 13%. Because of back problems, I'm moving to brewing 2.5gal batches. With a 2.5gal batch, I don't think there is any way I can get a good rolling boil and come in under the 15% mark.
From my reading, it seems most "small batch brewers" are boiling off more than 15%. My estimates are that I will have ≈4.5gal at the start of the boil. I'm assuming my boil off rate using the same burner will be about the same, perhaps a little less. But even if I were to boil off 1gal per hour, that puts me at ≈22% for the evaporation rate.
Is this a problem? Is there anything I can do to make sure my beers don't suffer from the negative flavor & stability effects of too high of an evaporation rate?
Thanks for your help!