Hop additions make me lower manual PID from 68 to 50

[Brettomomyces]

Was wondering if anyone else experiences this.

I've found 68% for my manual PID is a good go to number for most of my boil; I usually start at 63, allow it to break, and raise to 68 for the rest of the boil. Then I get down to the 15 minute mark and start doing the late hop additions, and I have found I have to lower it from 68 down to 50 to prevent a boilover (I'm a keggle brewer, not a ton of extra space going on). I use pellet hops primarily, and throw them in free, no bag or spider. I also use antifoamer (fermcap, but trying out 5 Star's now). So, I lower to 50-53 and it still maintains just as strong a boil.

It reminded me a lot of the difference between boiling and boiling with a boil stick from college chem. Am I providing extra nucleation sites to encourage boiling with the pellet hops? If I do not lower below 60 it's like a constant threat of boilover.

 

[Zepth]

I only had one incident with hop additions. The first one in a near full pot when I was stovetop. Even my most aggressive hop schedule has yielded little more than a bit of extra fizz at the top of the kettle for less than 15 seconds. Once again, the first is usually worst.

Possible that it's nucleation or tiny pockets of air escaping from the pellet. Maybe add a scoop of boiling wort to the hops on the side 1 minute before adding to the kettle to try and get the messy part out of the way?

 

[Brettomomyces]

It will start to boil over kind of randomly if I keep the % above 60 after I've got more than say 3oz of hops in there. Sometimes it's immediate, sometimes a few minutes later. I keep a spray bottle close by.

What's more curious is the power needs/maintaining that boil at lower power. I literally lower the power output about 15% and I can keep the same boil I had at prior to adding the hops.

I've been a propane brewer for 9 years and never experienced this before, so I thought I'd toss it in the electric section to see if anyone else does this.