Boil Kettle Geyser

[viking999]

Has anyone ever experienced a gurgling geyser in the center of their boil kettle? This is my fourth batch, and everything is going very smoothly, but in center of one of my kettles (I'm doing a split boil), I keep getting a ~3 inch high geyser after stirring. I'm using an electric range.

A couple of possibilities:

1) This is the shorter and fatter of the two kettles. It also heats up faster. It could have something to do with that.

2) This is my first time doing a late extract addition, so maybe it has something to do with the gravity of the boil wort being lower than I'm used to.

Can anyone help narrow down the cause some more?

 

[ChshreCat]

Just sounds like a very vigorous rolling boil.

 

[BarleyWater]

When you stir you create centrifugal force which is driving the liquid to the outside, and the gas bubbles to the middle. Happens every time I stir my kettle to fast, just don't make a whirlpool by stirring in one direction for too long and you'll be fine.

 

[viking999]

When you stir you create centrifugal force which is driving the liquid to the outside, and the gas bubbles to the middle. Happens every time I stir my kettle to fast, just don't make a whirlpool by stirring in one direction for too long and you'll be fine.

Ah, that makes a lot of sense. My shorter, fatter pot has a bigger radius, so the force is greater. That's pretty impressive, though, because I was only stirring gently.

 

[yeasty]

was wondering if a HOT vigorous boil is better or worse than a slow cool boil ?

 

[ChshreCat]

A good, vigorous rolling boil is good for your hops and driving off DMS.

 

[GranillaNutz]

when i use my propane burner and don't use the heat spreader, i get a similar effect. the flame is more concentrated on the center of the pot, and i do use a wide pot. i'm sure with some electric heating coils, the heat isn't evenly distributed throughout the coils. i can use my heat spreader and watch the "geyser" move from one side of the pot to the next. i would think a concentrated hard boil in one spot on the kettle could possibly scorch the wort. have you tried other burners on ur range? or have u only used the one that gives you this phenomenon... i could be wrong... i am quite the newb. i actually doubt u can get enough heat from an electric range to scorch the wort tho.

 

[viking999]

have you tried other burners on ur range? or have u only used the one that gives you this phenomenon... i could be wrong... i am quite the newb. i actually doubt u can get enough heat from an electric range to scorch the wort tho.

This was the widest burner, and thus the most appropriate for my wider kettle. I don't think it had anything to do with heat, as it happened with the lid off the kettle so it was at its coolest (I need to keep the lid mostly on to have a rolling boil). Also, it only happened immediately after I stirred, not when I let it sit with the lid on.