Why I am losing so much water in boil?

[marjen]

Who would know a simple question would produce such a complex conversation, lol. Thats the interesting thing I am discovering about this hobby. Sometimes it seems and is so simple, but there are so many layers and complexities to explore if you desire.

 

[Dmoney1911]

There's some things that require a better understanding of and will make better beer, and then there's things that can be waaaayyyy over-analyzed. The ability to know the difference comes with experience

 

[doug293cz]

There's some things that require a better understanding of and will make better beer, and then there's things that can be waaaayyyy over-analyzed. The ability to know the difference comes with experience

Good point. You don't need to understand the thermodynamics of boiling (as interesting as it might, or might not , be) in order to adjust your boil-off rate. Just lower or raise the heat. Experiment with heat input levels until you get the boil-off you want.

Brew on

 

[johnwpowell]

I had the same problem and was boiling too hot. I turned the flame down and perfect now.

 

[balrog]

High heat to bring to boil, the turn it down to get rolling boil -- you want to see bubbles on the surface but they don't have to cover the surface. You want to see things moving around, but they don't have to be a some volcanic dance temp.

You ABSOLUTELY must do a boil off test, and you ABSOLUTELY must factor in grain absorption of initial stirke water volume.

I have a 10gal pot, 13.5" dia, and rolling boil off of 1-1.1gal/hr, grain absorbtion (absorption?) of 0.077875 gal/pound. I use BIAB and don't squeeze, just let it drip into another vessel during 15-20m after mash while bringing kettle to boil, adding drips just before boil.

The thing is, YOUR SYSTEM WILL BE DIFFERENT and only you can find out what that is by taking volume measurements carefully as you go.

 

[madscientist451]

So this was my third time brewing today. First time BIAB.

Last time I started with 6.25 gallons and ended up with just under 4 into the fermenter.
Today I did BIAB started with 7.25 gallons. Throught I did a good job squeezing the bag, ended up with 4 gallons into the fermenter. What gives?

I thought I should be losing about a gallon for every hour of boiling? I did a 60 minute boil. So I was hoping for 5 gallons into fermenter. I am using a 10 gallon kettle.

Just keep experimenting. Eventually you'll learn how your "system" works.
Bump the beginning water up to 8.5 gallons and see what happens.
You didn't say anything about your starting gravity, if you just added another gallon of water after the boil, would it have come out about right?

 

[oujens]

Turn down your gas when you get a boil. I've cranked mine way down to a "simmer" with no effects. Now I'm pissed I've been wasting gas all these years. I also have a lot more room to drain by bag into the kettle because of less water needed.

 

[Singletrack]

.

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

I thought you wanted a rolling boil to keep the beer from scorching on the bottom of the kettle, and to promote the mixing of the hop pellets throughout the wort, rather than letting them settle to the bottom (where the scorching is taking place).

I start the boil with 7 gallons, and by the time it's boiled, cooled, screened, and in the fermenter, I have ~5.6 gallons remaining. Am I a victim of excessive boiling?

 

[madscientist451]

I start with the boil with 7 gallons, and by the time it's boiled, cooled, screened, and in the fermenter, I have ~5.6 gallons remaining. Am I a victim of excessive boiling?

You can get fussy about many aspects of brewing; does it really matter if your evaporation is 1.4 gallons versus 1 gallon or 1.2 gallons?
If you can dial back the heat, you'll save on gas or electricity, so that's one advantage.
Perhaps someday someone will do a beer experiment with two brews, one boiled at the max, the other dialed back.
I'm thinking the average drinker won't be able to tell the difference?

 

[Soulshine2]

Turn down your gas when you get a boil. I've cranked mine way down to a "simmer" with no effects. Now I'm pissed I've been wasting gas all these years. I also have a lot more room to drain by bag into the kettle because of less water needed.

This is my "argument" . I don't understand why the boil needs to be violent. If a goal temperature is met ( in this case 212*F) why does it need to pop and spit out of the pot to be effective. I can see and understand a specific minimum time of said boil to hot break .

If you guys think this is a long thread going in argument circles ,you should visit a motorcycle forum and bring up the subject of synthetic vs conventional oil... go ahead, I'll wait.

 

[balrog]

hop isomerization starts at ~170° and is better at 212° so keep it boiling. But I've seen nothing scientific about bubbles covering 25% surface vs 100% surface. I just keep it moving. I want to see movement, rolling, to keep the hop debris moving rather than languishing on the surface. You might get more Maillard reactions with higher heat input (stronger boil) and you'll get more charring of the wort with higher heat input especially if you have thinner pot bottom. But I just keep it moving.

 

[SanPancho]

Who would know a simple question would produce such a complex conversation, lol. Thats the interesting thing I am discovering about this hobby. Sometimes it seems and is so simple, but there are so many layers and complexities to explore if you desire.

hang around here long enough and this discussion will seem positively friendly and civil. its way too easy to over analyze every little thing about brewing, because it touches on so many different concepts: physics, gas laws, microbiology, in- and organic chemistry, statistics, and a bunch of other stuff.

at the end of the day, the best thing you can do is do the reading, learn the basic/underlying concepts, and decide which methods you are going to adopt: all grain, BIAB, herms, LoDo, hot boil, low boil, fast chill, no chill, high pH + high boil for dark beers, low pH + low boil for light beers, etc. etc.

at some point you'll have to compromise, time/effort/money means you cant always do every technique you'd like to perform. so establish a game plan, get your self a system or routine and make a bunch of beer. then drink it. if you're happy with it, great. you're done. if you're unhappy, or if you wanna tweak it a bit then make your changes to process one at a time.

 

[mabrungard]

I thought you wanted a rolling boil to keep the beer from scorching on the bottom of the kettle, and to promote the mixing of the hop pellets throughout the wort, rather than letting them settle to the bottom (where the scorching is taking place).

I start the boil with 7 gallons, and by the time it's boiled, cooled, screened, and in the fermenter, I have ~5.6 gallons remaining. Am I a victim of excessive boiling?

With a light simmer, the wort is moving and circulating within the kettle. The point is that you don't need a volcanic boil to avoid the problems you mention above.

In my opinion, you are likely losing more evaporation than you need to. If you are wanting about 5.5 gal at the end of the boil, you could start with about 6 gal and control the boil intensity and exchange with the open atmosphere to get that loss down to around 10%.