Boil Over - Is my batch ruined?

[MrTomMorrow]

Well, first batch and I of course had a boil over at the start of my wort's boil. About 5 minutes after adding the DME. It wasn't boiling so I moved it to another burner, turned away for 2 minutes and it boiled over.

I immediately moved it back to the previous burner so it never really lost it's boil but stopped the boil over. A good amount came out (not a ton, I caught it pretty quickly).

So now I am curious... is the batch ruined, should I stop now or is it okay to keep going?

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

Keep going.

 

[VagueSkunk]

Never turn your back on it! Wort is some sneaky ****...

 

[JonM]

Beer's not ruined, but your stovetop will be in need of some TLC after that wort gets cooked on. Comet and elbow grease worked for me when I had the same thing happen to me.

 

[MrTomMorrow]

Luckily I've gained a lot of weight and had a lot of old shirts that don't fit me to use as rags and I was able to clean it up mostly (the pot will need some TLC for sure).

Thanks everyone, I was devastated at the idea of it ruining the beer. Been waiting to do this for awhile, don't want to find out in 5 weeks my beer is terrible because of this. There's plenty of other reasons it could be terrible as is!

 

[apl_seed]

Never turn your back on it! Wort is some sneaky ****...

Thats a lesson you only have to learn once!

 

[passedpawn]

Luckily I've gained a lot of weight and had a lot of old shirts that don't fit me to use as rags and I was able to clean it up mostly (the pot will need some TLC for sure).

Thanks everyone, I was devastated at the idea of it ruining the beer. Been waiting to do this for awhile, don't want to find out in 5 weeks my beer is terrible because of this. There's plenty of other reasons it could be terrible as is!

Get some fermcap-s at your homebrew store or online source. A few drops will cure your boilover issues.

 

[BitterSweetBrews]

When the wort first starts to boil that is the most critical time to keep an eye on it and lower the temp as needed to contain it. It can have a tendency to boil over until it reaches what is called the "Hot Break". This is when a lot of the proteins start to act up. After it passes the hot break, usually about 3-5 minutes in.. After that you are OK to set the boil to easy rolling, the foam will start to subside and the chance of a boil-over is reduced.

As mentioned, fermcap can apparently reduce this chance (I have never used it).

 

[sky4meplease]

When you add a hop addition it can create a boil over as well anytime during the boil.
A lot of times a bittering addition happens as soon as the boil starts so you have hot break and hop addition combining to create the boil over at the same time.
If the stuff you cleaned up off the stove and the floor had a lot of Hop material in it, it could affect your IBU's.

 

[passedpawn]

As mentioned, fermcap can apparently reduce this chance (I have never used it).

You must. It's amazing. I buy large containers (not that little eyedropper) and keep some in the kitchen too, for boiling pasta.

 

[jcav]

You must. It's amazing. I buy large containers (not that little eyedropper) and keep some in the kitchen too, for boiling pasta.

+1 I use it every time I brew and it works great! Curious where you get the larger size, I only see the eyedropper size online....

John

 

[m1k3]

First batch and you need a larger kettle... moohoohahaha welcome to home brewing. Get ready to spend 2K @ $200 a pop. Then say what just happened?

 

[passedpawn]

+1 I use it every time I brew and it works great! Curious where you get the larger size, I only see the eyedropper size online....

John

I bought the 375ml container twice at southern brewing in Tampa. I think this last container I got at Vetterbrew in Clearwater (do you know the place?). If you want the big container, call Mike at Vetterbrew and he'll get it for you. 727-330-3825. Tell him I sent you He knows me.

 

[MrTomMorrow]

I ran into my second major problem. I didn't confirm my airlocks fit my carboy... and they did not. Or not well. If I wanted to, I could force the bung (I think that's what it's called?) completely through. It wouldn't just fall through but I didn't trust it. So I sanitized a few muslin bags and covered the hole, then out the bung(?) into the hole with the muslin bags, so it'd be a little tighter.

Still isn't great...

How bad is this. Should I just toss the wort and start over now?

In general there were a LOT of mistakes this first pass. I don't know if I want to wait 3 weeks to start over.

 

[jcav]

I bought the 375ml container twice at southern brewing in Tampa. I think this last container I got at Vetterbrew in Clearwater (do you know the place?). If you want the big container, call Mike at Vetterbrew and he'll get it for you. 727-330-3825. Tell him I sent you He knows me.

Excellent, I have been there a few times (thanks to you telling me about it). I will tell Mike I talked to you and have him order it for me. Thanks!

John

 

[jcav]

I ran into my second major problem. I didn't confirm my airlocks fit my carboy... and they did not. Or not well. If I wanted to, I could force the bung (I think that's what it's called?) completely through. It wouldn't just fall through but I didn't trust it. So I sanitized a few muslin bags and covered the hole, then out the bung(?) into the hole with the muslin bags, so it'd be a little tighter.

Still isn't great...

How bad is this. Should I just toss the wort and start over now?

In general there were a LOT of mistakes this first pass. I don't know if I want to wait 3 weeks to start over.

Your into it this far already, I wouldn't toss the wort. Chances are you will be fine. If you have a blow off tube you can stick that into the carboy hole and put the other end into a jar or container of Star San.

John

 

[MrTomMorrow]

Here's a picture. If it helps. Thanks again everyone appreciate it!

 

[jcav]

I see what you mean now. A lot of us use a blow off tube for the first few days of fermentation when there is a lot of activity. After it settles down in a few days then we put on an air lock. But if you don't have a blow off tube it's ok for now, but you might want to get one for your next batch. Different types of beer styles, yeast and gravity of worts may cause a lot of foaming and it will come out the top of your fermenter during the first day or so, that is the reason for the blow off tube. You are making beer though, so don't worry!

John

 

[atoughram]

yup - completely ruined...

Continue to chill, pitch, ferment, bottle, etc...

and then bring the finished ruined batch to me... I'll dispose of it for you for free!

 

[Northbank]

You don't need a fancy airlock to be honest A bit of foil wrapped around the top of your carboy will work as long as it doesn't go bat**** crazy and start overflowing on you I did this on a batch when my my slightly small bung wound up inside my carboy with my wort haha .... excellent beer that one was. I also learned a neat trick for getting a bung out of carboy with a plastic bag via YouTube ...

Chill my friend, brewing is about process and learning and experience and then laughing when after all of that things still go to hell. Somehow, you almost always wind up with beer ...

 

[BitterSweetBrews]

Here's a picture. If it helps. Thanks again everyone appreciate it!

You are fine. As others have mentioned your airlock is mainly there to keep stuff from floating in. Anything covering the hole is going to be fine. It does not have to be absolutely air tight. Most fermentation buckets don't seal all the way and once fermentation is slowed you never see any airlock activity because it is leaking out the lid.

If it is fermenting, there is a nice layer of CO2 on the top of the now beer and it will protect it from any other lighter gases (O2) and dust. Just leave it in a nice temperature stable environment, at 60-70 degrees if possible. Leave it alone for a couple weeks. If you have a hydrometer you can test the specific gravity and when it reads the same for 3 -4 days it is done. Usually this is at around 7 days, but 2 weeks is good if you can't test.

Then, bottle it after adding some priming sugar. This will ferment with the yeast still in the beer and make it carbonate in the bottles. It will take 3+ weeks to carbonate. There are priming sugar calculators on the web. If you have another container that you can bottle from carefully transfer the beer into it leaving the settled trub and yeast behind and add the necessary sugar in mass (boil it in a cup of water and let it cool). Alternately you could skip that and put 3/4 tsp table sugar into each 12oz bottle. This is less accurate but does work.