Boiling Issues

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acparr27

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I just brewed my first batch at a new house im living in for the summer but the propane stove could not keep the boil going unless I left the lid on. I kept taking it off every few mins to get the hops off of the side. Hope it turns out alright since i couldnt keep a steady rolling boil. Once i took the lid off it would almost cease boiling. Kind of frustrating. grrr. Any input would be appreciated! Thank you!
 
Well a good rolling boil is good for attenuation and bittering. Under the heat did it move around at all, like the hops could you see fluttering around?
 
Well a good rolling boil is good for attenuation and bittering. Under the heat did it move around at all, like the hops could you see fluttering around?

Yeah it was definitely boiling. Hops were moving around well. Im just trying to finish it up right now. Doing a pumpkin ale and i just added in 60 oz of pumpkin and more LME and it dropped the temp down to 190. It says you should boil it another 5 mins and then add hops for last few mins but Its going to take another 10 15 mins to get it back to a boil. Should I let it come back to a boil? Is boiling longer than 60 mins a bad thing? Thank you
 
No, not a bad thing at all. It would change the characteristics of the hop schedule a little but not a big deal. It may be better for the pumpkin to steep instead of boil anyway, is this an actual carved pumpkin or canned puree?

If you see the wort churning and turning about that means that it is boiling, it doesn't necessarily boil like a pot of water would.
 
No, not a bad thing at all. It would change the characteristics of the hop schedule a little but not a big deal. It may be better for the pumpkin to steep instead of boil anyway, is this an actual carved pumpkin or canned puree?

If you see the wort churning and turning about that means that it is boiling, it doesn't necessarily boil like a pot of water would.

Ok, Thank you for the input! Cheers
 
If you keep your pot covered make sure that any condensation that collects on the lid does not drip back into your pot when you lift the lid. DMS is driven off in the steam of the boil but if it condenses on your lid it will fall back in. DMS tastes like cooked corn and is mostly found in pilsner malt, that's why most recipes that use pilsner malt call for a 90 minute boil to drive out all the DMS. I'm sure your batch will be fine, but if you notice a cooked corn off-flavor, you know why :)

If your stove has trouble boiling your volume, decrease it and then make up the difference with extra water into the fermenter, aka a partial boil. This will have a slight effect on your hop utilization but not very significant, perhaps ass a few extra grams of hops.
 
You can also try wrapping a few layers of aluminum foil around your pot. I did it with mine and it keeps a boil going really well. I can boil 6 gallons of water on my electric stove.
 
time to upgrade your burner bro! I know I know, money and stuff... but this fighting to keep a boil aint worth it, and you'll never get the hops right with this junk goin on.
 
If you keep your pot covered make sure that any condensation that collects on the lid does not drip back into your pot when you lift the lid. DMS is driven off in the steam of the boil but if it condenses on your lid it will fall back in. DMS tastes like cooked corn and is mostly found in pilsner malt, that's why most recipes that use pilsner malt call for a 90 minute boil to drive out all the DMS. I'm sure your batch will be fine, but if you notice a cooked corn off-flavor, you know why :)

If your stove has trouble boiling your volume, decrease it and then make up the difference with extra water into the fermenter, aka a partial boil. This will have a slight effect on your hop utilization but not very significant, perhaps ass a few extra grams of hops.

Hmm. What is DMS? I think I did let some go back in. Hope it tastes alright. lol
 
You can also try wrapping a few layers of aluminum foil around your pot. I did it with mine and it keeps a boil going really well. I can boil 6 gallons of water on my electric stove.

Good call, I will have to try that next time!
 
time to upgrade your burner bro! I know I know, money and stuff... but this fighting to keep a boil aint worth it, and you'll never get the hops right with this junk goin on.

Yeah I hear ya! But this was my first time on this particular stove and I thought it would work well. I just moved recently and was used to do doing it on another stove. Im still relatively new to brewing but getting the hang of it.
 
As long as you are near boiling, it isn't likely to matter much.
A 2% decrease in hop utilization because you are averaging 210° instead of 211° isn't going to make much of a difference for most homebrewers.

I'm not sure how long of boiling with the lid off it takes to get rid of DMS, but chances are, you don't need a full 60 minutes at 211°.
 
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