Boil Over - Don't Let This Happen To You Home Brewers!

[grem135]

I came very close to this my first brew. Since SWMBO complained about the smell in her house my next batch was done on the side burner of my gas grill. I added the hops slowly this time and had no problems.

 

[kanddr]

Classic first post. Been there and done that.

 

[jbaysurfer]

I have never had an issue with hop additions causing a foaming problem. Do you guys that have this problem get a good hot break? When I first start to boil the foam will come on like mad. I just watch it closely and control it with my regulator. I mean, I am encouraging the foam by turning up the gas flow but as soon as it starts to reach the top of the brew kettle I back off the heat until the foam subsides and then I do it again. After about a half dozen times of doing this the foam goes away. From this point on, I can boil to my heart's content without any worry.

I've had boil overs indoors, outdoors, and honestly, it's happened many times. When you're maxing out your kettle capacity on a batch, it's not a matter of IF, it's a matter of when.

That said, I've found (through much trial and ERROR) that a solid and complete hotbreak before adding the first hop addition will make this occurence far less likely (a boil over upon first hop addition). The only thing to make it even less likely than that is a bigger pot, which, because I'm functionally retarded when it comes to boilovers, is what I did. I now do my 5 gallong boils (7G preboil) in a 10G kettle and have plenty of headspace for a good healthy vigorous hotbreak.

This video, and that reaction are priceless. Thanks for sharing, and I hope it makes you feel better to know we've all had it happen at one time or another. Rookies and vets alike.

 

[craft_beer_fan]

HAHHAHAHAHAHA

Everything looked so shiny right up until it blew up! Hops will always do that, so if you are anywhere near boiling over, it is imperative to lower the heat significantly then add hops, then resume boiling slowly.

...and brew outside.

Again, this was my third batch...my first batch I was SO PARANOID of having a boil over. I had the femcap S, the spray bottle, all ready and nothing ever happened. However, I was boiling at about 213 F while this time I was boing at 215 F....what a difference 2 F makes!

 

[craft_beer_fan]

Rookie move... Nice quality video though. What did you use to record that?

I used a Canon Rebel T1i SLR.

 

[craft_beer_fan]

Hah, I think I hear your Fermcap-S honking in the background.

Thanks for posting!

Funny thing is, I had the femcap S bottle nearby but not on hand. I certainly let my guard down. The timing of the honking is pretty funny. ;-)

 

[craft_beer_fan]

Fortunately, boil-overs are self-limiting. They put out the fire all by themselves.

BTW, I am planning to brew from now on outdoors. My wife doesn't care for the smell (even before the boil over and the hot burnt caramalized smell). I for one think there is no better smell than a boiling wort with a fresh hop addition!

I am thinking of going with the Hurricane Burner, any thoughts on this burner?

 

[craft_beer_fan]

The hop addition got me this weekend too, although your language was a lot cleaner than mine

Yeah, it was probably a good thing I stopped the camera while I was cleaning up the mess. A lot more colorful metaphors were exiting my mouth while I was cleaning up. ;-)

 

[craft_beer_fan]

Get a spray bottle full of water to knock down the foam and add FWH slowly. I made sure to do that after I had a boil over on my second batch. Being the noob that I was, I dumped the full bowl of FWH all at once only to be met with a viscous boil over. That sucked. Haven't had any since

The thing that I didn't mention in the video description is that, sadly, I had a spray bottle and femcap S on hand. I let my guard down after my previous two batches I never had a problem when adding the hops; obviously this time was a whole different story. :-\ Just goes to show that no two brews are ever exactly the same I guess. I am new to home brewing so I certainly learned a valuable lesson here.

I now have been banned from brewing in the kitchen so my next purchase will be a Hurricane Burner to brew outside. Oh well, at least I will hit my steeping and boil temps much fast then. :rockin:

Good news is I didn't lose much of the wort. I adjusted the top-off water to hit the O.G correctly. This batch has been in the primary fermenting bucket where the yeast have been highly active. Ready to rack this batch on Sunday!

 

[VentiVendetta]

Too bad, thanks for sharing though. This happens to everyone.

 

[Brulosopher]

FermcapS is MAGIC!!!!

 

[craft_beer_fan]

lol you added 1 oz of warrior hops and OH S#!T... never heard of it.. i've heard of cat s#!t, somebody tried to mash some the other day

Actually, if you look close I only got about half the 1 oz bag in before I realized the imminent boil over and stopped adding....obviously was too late though but at least I saved half of the warrior hops.

 

[craft_beer_fan]

I've had boil overs indoors, outdoors, and honestly, it's happened many times. When you're maxing out your kettle capacity on a batch, it's not a matter of IF, it's a matter of when.

That said, I've found (through much trial and ERROR) that a solid and complete hotbreak before adding the first hop addition will make this occurence far less likely (a boil over upon first hop addition). The only thing to make it even less likely than that is a bigger pot, which, because I'm functionally retarded when it comes to boilovers, is what I did. I now do my 5 gallong boils (7G preboil) in a 10G kettle and have plenty of headspace for a good healthy vigorous hotbreak.

This video, and that reaction are priceless. Thanks for sharing, and I hope it makes you feel better to know we've all had it happen at one time or another. Rookies and vets alike.

Thanks to you and all the other home brewer posts! I wanted to share this to give you all a good laugh and to alert other home brewer rookies to take caution. It may not happen your first, or second batch (like me), but let your guard down, it probably will get you at some point. Bigger kettle is definitely good advice and I thought about that before making the purchase of my 5 gallon but was afraid the larger kettles would be too big for my gas range (although I am now going outdoors to brew anyway; wife's orders). Some day I plan on doing All Grain brewing but I wanted to learn the basics first; I think that was a good move, don't you guys? ;-)

 

[Beardsly]

A spray bottle with cold water in it will nuke those boilovers before they demolish your kitchen.

 

[Dawnhulio]

D'oh! Oh well, things might be sticky for a while.

'Dude, why's your floor sticky?' 'Well, I was busy making you BEER, which you are drinking with enjoyment, right now, and I'd like a thank you.'

 

[jarrodaden]

That happened to me on a WHITE stovetop. The wort tuned into a baked-on layer of black awfulness. It took many, many applications of Easy Off to clean it up.

Newbies - read this. This is what happens. I have never had a boild over indoors, but I always seems to get a drop or two on my electric stove top. Takes some serious elbow grease to get it off.

 

[gregc1973]

The same thing happened to me when I added the hops to the first batch I ever brewed. Luckily, I had a slightly larger pot, so I was able to get it off the heat before it boiled over. Since it was my first brew, I had no idea hops would do that to the boil. Since then I've poured the hops onto the spoon and slowly kind of dip the spoon in and out of the wort until it seems to be safe to dump them. Seems to work...until it doesn't.

 

[craft_beer_fan]

D'oh! Oh well, things might be sticky for a while.

'Dude, why's your floor sticky?' 'Well, I was busy making you BEER, which you are drinking with enjoyment, right now, and I'd like a thank you.'

So true!

 

[kgalle]

Nucleation