Boiloff experiment

[trapae]

So today I did a boil off experiment to see exactly how much boil off I have in one hour because my BeerSmith numbers weren't coming out correct. I had previously calculated about 1.25 gallons per hour but could never check because my chiller displaced water at the end of the boil. Today I boiled my normal volume with an average DME amount just to measure Turns out I boiloff 1.75 gallons per hour. Seems like a lot but i do live in southern california where the air is pretty dry. Went back and recalculated last couple brew numbers using this and now they work out. Nice when math and science actually work. (thanks Brad).
Another interesting thing, I haven't done a extract batch since I went to all grain 6 batches ago. I know a lot of people say you can't tell a difference, but the smell of the wort and the taste were completely different than when I mash. Extract sure would be a shorted day though.
Cheers.

 

[IL1kebeer]

Where in SoCal do you live? I'm in Corona and I manage to boil off a little less than 1 gal/hr. After shrinkage from cooling I'm up to 1 gallon loss after a 60 minute boil. But man, it's been dry here this past year. They are talking about putting water restrictions in place here pretty soon.

 

[trapae]

Yeah, super dry. Huntington Beach, wouldn't think it would be that dry. Maybe I'm boiling too hard but it looks like a rolling boil to me.

 

[IL1kebeer]

I can recall that there are a few factors that affect boil off. Humidity and altitude come to mind first, and the vigor of the boil will affect it too. I don't think that boiling off too much or too little is bad either way as long as it's consistent and the beer turns out great. I imagine that a super high boil off will encourage more mallard reactions and caramalization, but I think one would have to be boiling balls to the wall for it to be an issue. Cheers!

 

[RM-MN]

So today I did a boil off experiment to see exactly how much boil off I have in one hour because my BeerSmith numbers weren't coming out correct. I had previously calculated about 1.25 gallons per hour but could never check because my chiller displaced water at the end of the boil. Today I boiled my normal volume with an average DME amount just to measure Turns out I boiloff 1.75 gallons per hour. Seems like a lot but i do live in southern california where the air is pretty dry. Went back and recalculated last couple brew numbers using this and now they work out. Nice when math and science actually work. (thanks Brad).
Another interesting thing, I haven't done a extract batch since I went to all grain 6 batches ago. I know a lot of people say you can't tell a difference, but the smell of the wort and the taste were completely different than when I mash. Extract sure would be a shorted day though.
Cheers.

Try a BIAB batch sometime. I end up with a shorter day with that.