bottlebomber
Well-Known Member
Tonight I made a 2 liter starter as I've done many times. Only THIS time, I thought back to a thread I read recently where everyone was talking about how they'd boiled their stir bars in the flask. So because everyone is doing it, I decided id give it a shot. This is what happened.
When I popped the stirbar into the already boiling flask, a 16 inch gyser of wort shot out, reducing my starter to 1 liter and flooding my stove. Plus my wife was cooking dinner and wasn't feeling good, so I got to enjoy one of her "you and your freakin brewing" looks.
She'll get over it. I did, and I feel much better.
However, I can't help wonder why this happened! I had the stir bar in my bucket of starsan. So this is what I came up with. 1. when I dropped the stirbar in, the few drops of starsan instantly lowered the boiling point of the solution, making a burst of steam (and wort) necessary. Or 2. The stir bar has some kind of texture that acted as a nucleus for bubbles, similar to the Mentos/Diet Coke experiment. I wonder if this has happened to anyone else, and if anyone knows why this may have occurred.
When I popped the stirbar into the already boiling flask, a 16 inch gyser of wort shot out, reducing my starter to 1 liter and flooding my stove. Plus my wife was cooking dinner and wasn't feeling good, so I got to enjoy one of her "you and your freakin brewing" looks.
She'll get over it. I did, and I feel much better.
However, I can't help wonder why this happened! I had the stir bar in my bucket of starsan. So this is what I came up with. 1. when I dropped the stirbar in, the few drops of starsan instantly lowered the boiling point of the solution, making a burst of steam (and wort) necessary. Or 2. The stir bar has some kind of texture that acted as a nucleus for bubbles, similar to the Mentos/Diet Coke experiment. I wonder if this has happened to anyone else, and if anyone knows why this may have occurred.