Can a weak boil result in watery beer?

[brewczyk]

So my last 4 beers have come out watery which I've attributed to a weak boil. I'm never able to boil my wort down to the 5 gallon mark and am afraid to boil longer. With that said, I have a few boil questions:

1) Does the inability to reach my target boil volume effect the body of my beer? (watery)

2) Do I measure my "post boil" volume with or without the sludge/trub?

3) What do you recommend to increase my boil volume?

:smack:

 

[finsfan]

Have you been measuring the gravity before and after you ferment? Im sure that if the post-boil volume is too large it will be a little watery, but maybe its more in your mill efficiency and you are not extracting enough fermentable sugars, resulting in a watery beer.

 

[brewczyk]

Have you been measuring the gravity before and after you ferment? Im sure that if the post-boil volume is too large it will be a little watery, but maybe its more in your mill efficiency and you are not extracting enough fermentable sugars, resulting in a watery beer.

Yes, my OG has always been a bit lower then expected. I can attribute this to both your theory of not extracting enough sugar and also my theory about too much water being in the mix. I know for a fact that my post boil volume is higher than what the recipe calls for.

 

[finsfan]

well knowing that you keep coming up with too much wort, just dial it back before the boil and you should hit your O.G just fine. How much have you been off?

 

[rklinck]

You do not need to be afraid to boil longer. Boiling longer will not hurt your beer. Just extend the period before you make your first hop addition.

 

[cheezydemon3]

Lack of vigorous boil leads to extra DMS in your beer...........whatever that is I never intend to find out!

http://beersmith.com/blog/2012/04/10/dimethyl-sulfides-dms-in-home-brewed-beer/

 

[kh54s10]

1) Yes, if you end up with too much volume and low OG the beer will be low alcohol and thin.
I assume you are not doing a partial boil and topping up. So you need to lower the amount that you start the boil with or increase the vigor of the boil. Also #3 you want to LOWER your boil volume not increase it.

2) You should get just a little over 5 gallons to end up with 5 into the bottles. A little loss to trub and a little to evaporation.

3) see above.

Lack of a vigorous boil will not keep DMS in your wort unless it is just barely boiling. Covering the pot during the boil will though.

If you start with less wort preboil and end up with the right volume and still have too low OG then you can search elsewhere, but getting the correct volume comes first.

 

[brewczyk]

1) Yes, if you end up with too much volume and low OG the beer will be low alcohol and thin.
I assume you are not doing a partial boil and topping up. So you need to lower the amount that you start the boil with or increase the vigor of the boil. Also #3 you want to LOWER your boil volume not increase it.

2) You should get just a little over 5 gallons to end up with 5 into the bottles. A little loss to trub and a little to evaporation.

3) see above.

Lack of a vigorous boil will not keep DMS in your wort unless it is just barely boiling. Covering the pot during the boil will though.

If you start with less wort preboil and end up with the right volume and still have too low OG then you can search elsewhere, but getting the correct volume comes first.

Thanks for the advice. I did an experiment today where I split my boil into two seperate pots. even with each pot only holding 3.25 gallons, i still couldn't reach a good boil. I dreaded having to do this, but i'm going to have to make a heat stick. Making beer takes long enough, i would hate to endure 120 minute boils. Home Depot, here i come.