Hop debris and Steam Condensers

[kgranger]

Anyone using steam condensers experiencing an issue with hop debris coating the entire exposed interior of their kettles when the lid is on? I've dialed in my boil to be at about 25-30% power on my electric kettle, giving me a nice simmer, not an aggressive boil. Because the lid is on and pressures are higher, I am still getting large, thin bubbles rising to the top of the lid, carrying large amounts of hop debris with it, coating the kettle walls thick. I am frequently having to scrape off all this hop material so it can fall back into the boil and be utilized, but this is becoming a pain. Reducing the boil power any more and I'm not boiling at all. Any advice on this?

 

[Franktalk]

Can you dial back the flow in the condenser? Using a condenser takes a bit of a balance between the heat and the flow of the water spraying in the condenser. I find that for the first five minutes of the boil I am observing the boil; if it is a bit high, I might drop the power a bit; if it slows down, I inch it back up. I am usually right around 33% on my boil controller. Of course, this balance occurs after I am happy with the flow of the condenser. You can't adjust two variables at the same time. Also, the adjustments I make are minute. Still, every once in a while, I get a boil up with hop matter on the sides of the kettle. But, with that said, it definitely can be balanced and controlled.

 

[DuncB]

Do you have a lid on your kettle with a viewing window? How do you assess the bubbles / boil rate.
I don't get the problems that you mention, only time it occurred was when I had a boilover which occurred on the way up to the boil. But no hops had been added at that stage. Depending on how much is in the kettle I tend to maintain a boil at about 26 to 30 percent.
Would antifoam help? I've no experience with it but others might comment.

Higher pressure tends to suppress foam or krausen in a fermenter. I'd be very surprised at the measurable pressure difference between the space above the kettle and the outside. The spray is meant to condense the steam and hence reduce its' volume and therefore pressure. The venturi effect is also meant to lower pressure.

Could be your pressure is lower and so making bubbles bigger but again doubt this is anything very measurable and would be in the vicinity of the spray only.

 

[Spartan1979]

The only time I get the situation you describe is when I've cranked the heat up to get back to boil after starting the recirculation through the counter flow chiller/pump and forget to turn it back down. Otherwise I get very little foam except when adding whirlfloc/yeast nutrient and that's just for a little bit.

If you're having this issue, maybe you need some Fermcap S.

 

[randal-c]

I get this sometimes but not to that extent. Last time it happened I was checking to see how far down I had boiled and realized I couldn't read the interior kettle marking because of hop debris.

Now I just remove the lid to add hops. I know it's not as cool as using the port but if I remove the lid, add the hops, let them foam up, stir stir stir and then replace the lid it doesn't happen quite as badly. Of course when removing the lid you have to be careful otherwise a giant poof of trapped steam will instantly cook your wrist to medium rare. Ask me how I know this. It took me a few times to remember to angle the lid away from me - like a monkey I need the electric shock a few times before I learn.

 

[kgranger]

I don't have a port so I just crack open the lid to check/ add hops. Otherwise, lid will be on the whole boil. I was guessing pressure was causing issues, but it makes sense that the pressure would actually be lower with the condenser. I haven't done any adjusting with the actual condensers spray, it is at full blast right now, so I could play around with lowering it by adjusting it's valve. As far as potential boil overs, I should mention that this never happens pre-hot break, and the pressure of the boil is never strong enough that it is actually spilling out of the lid. It's hard to describe, I'll have to grab a video next time, but the bubbles are super thin and large, not really carrying much wort, but enough to grab the hops on the surface of the boil and coat the walls.