Burned LME . . . every time

[TimpanogosSlim]

That's what I meant. Not oxygenate, oxidize.. My bad

That doesn't make sense either. The oxidizing process you are referring to happens over time when the yeast aren't eating the oxygen, and happens on a secondary product of fermentation if i recall correctly.

A pitchable quantity of yeast is more than capable of eating all of the oxygen that you can get into solution at 1 atmosphere, and then some.

So if splashing hot wort was going to oxidize something, it would taste bad on day 1.

 

[brewit2it]

I have been using the same thermometer for mashing temps, sparge temps, boil temps. All of my brews have been good. At 218 on the therm I get a nice smooth rolling boil. So I dont see how 218 is impossible? I dunno either way I hit my numbers, volumes, and temps needed to brew im happy

Because at sea level water boils at 212 and wont get any hotter, just boil faster as you add more heat (unless you put it under pressure like in a pressure cooker). Anywhere above sea level (which is pretty much everywhere unless you are lucky enough to live at the beach or unlucky enough to live in death valley) it boils at a lower temp.

Your thermometer is definitely off. But it can work fine as long as you adjust for the error. You want to calculate what boiling temp should be at your elevation which, once you know your elevation is as simple as looking it up on a table or calculating with a simple formula. After you figure out what actual boiling temp is in your area you know how much error you have at boiling. Then you need to make an ice slurry (crushed ice with enough water to make a slurry) and check your thermometer. It should read 32. I am guessing yours will read higher. Once you know how far off it is at freezing and boiling temp you can adjust. The error is usually linear not an absolute amount. For instance lets say yours reads 8 degrees too high at boiling and 4 degrees to high at freezing. Then it is 6 degrees too high at half way between boiling and freezing (121 F in the example above).

 

[RandomBeerGuy]

I will use two therms next brew session if they both go above 212 I will take a picture and post it. Not trying to cause confusion. Like I said above my numbers, volumes, temp have been good I dont feel there is any error. This is only from my experience.

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

I will use two therms next brew session if they both go above 212 I will take a picture and post it. Not trying to cause confusion. Like I said above my numbers, volumes, temp have been good I dont feel there is any error. This is only from my experience.

You might be surprised. That's exactly how I figured out my old thermo was off. Well, it was in the mash, but still.......

 

[kaconga]

Pure water will boil at 212 at sea level. However as you increase the sugar you also increase the boiling point. The more dissolved solids the higher the boiling point will bet. This is the basic principle behind candymaking and commercial ice melters. They change the boiling point or freezing point via dissolving sugar or salt in water. Since wort is a sugar solution it would make sense that it boils at a higher temp. The more sugar the higher the temp.

 

[Draken]

Pure water will boil at 212 at sea level. However as you increase the sugar you also increase the boiling point. The more dissolved solids the higher the boiling point will bet. This is the basic principle behind candymaking and commercial ice melters. They change the boiling point or freezing point via dissolving sugar or salt in water. Since wort is a sugar solution it would make sense that it boils at a higher temp. The more sugar the higher the temp.

To raise the boiling point of water by 6 degrees you would need to add just over 4.75 lbs of pure sugar. 1lb of sugar increases the boiling point by about 1.25 degrees.

 

[ArcaneXor]

To raise the boiling point of water by 6 degrees you would need to add just over 4.75 lbs of pure sugar. 1lb of sugar increases the boiling point by about 1.25 degrees.

4.75 lbs of sugar in 5 gallons is about 1.043 OG.

 

[Draken]

4.75 lbs of sugar in 5 gallons is about 1.043 OG.

So there ya go, you could be boiling at 218...

 

[brewit2it]

To raise the boiling point of water by 6 degrees you would need to add just over 4.75 lbs of pure sugar. 1lb of sugar increases the boiling point by about 1.25 degrees.

I think you need to check those numbers, they are way off from my reading. 4.75 lbs of sugar in 5 gallons of water will definitely not raise the boiling point by 6 degrees. Maybe you meant 4.75 lbs in 1 gallon of water but even then it wouldn't be that much of an increase. It's only when you reach a very high concentration of sugar to water and you start to melt the sugar (rather than just dissolve it) that the temperature goes up dramatically.

A 50% sucrose solution (half sucrose, half water) boils at 102 celsius (215.6 F).

A 10% sugar soln (which is around what we are dealing with in full boil brewing) at sea level will boil at 212.72. Above regular boiling point, but not very dramatic.

 

[Draken]

I think you need to check those numbers, they are way off from my reading. 4.75 lbs of sugar in 5 gallons of water will definitely not raise the boiling point by 6 degrees. Maybe you meant 4.75 lbs in 1 gallon of water but even then it wouldn't be that much of an increase. It's only when you reach a very high concentration of sugar to water and you start to melt the sugar (rather than just dissolve it) that the temperature goes up dramatically.

A 50% sucrose solution (half sucrose, half water) boils at 102 celsius (215.6 F).

A 10% sugar soln (which is around what we are dealing with in full boil brewing) at sea level will boil at 212.72. Above regular boiling point, but not very dramatic.

Yea... I might have missed the volume of water that was in reference too. Dangit.. My reading comprehension skills today suck... Too much home brew last night I think.

 

[kaconga]

So from my back of an envelope calculations it looks like you would need about 1 kg per liter to raise the boiling point 6 degrees farenheit. My math could be wrong since I haven't used molality since highschool. It is still possible to achieve a much higher boiling point via partial boils but not really plausible for full boils. A reading of 218 is most easily explained as a false reading from the temp sensor touching a part of the pan. Or a faulty thermometer.

 

[jambafish]

So this has been fascinating. Okay, flameout means completely out and not just a few minute break. Thanks for the explanation. I'll try that in addition to also trying to add the LME from another pot in which it's had time to mix with water. (It's hard to know as a beginning brewer since I'm just following directions.)

I've been told by many brewers--rightly or wrongly--not to oxygenate the wort while it's at boil. I've stuck by that, but see that it's in great contention.

Oh, and for the record, I'm brewing at almost 5500 ft. elevation.