Boil

Seidel

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Hello. I¨m new to this beer brewing thing. I love beer and got tired of industrial beers, so I tought I should try brewing my own.
So to get started I bought the least expencive elektric bolier I could fine and some other stuff. I have brewed 5 batches.
  1. Stout- boiled according to recipe at 2000W, no lid. Way to much boil off and OG higher than wanted. ( It tasts okay and can pass for an Imperial stout ;) )
  2. Saison- Boiled under lid at 500W, OG in the naiborhood according to recipe, but somthing has gone wrong, Not drinkable.
  3. Weissbeer- boiled under lid at 500W, OG spot on, Tasted fantastic when it came out of fermentation. ( It's now on bottles have to wait until saturday for chilling and taste) I have high hopes for this one.
  4. and 5: Stout and Saison: boild under lid, Saison OG okay Stout OG low. Ferments now.
But now I know how much water I need to hit correct OG.

Now to my question: all videos I see or could find on the internet is with open boil at high effekt much boil of. It there a reason for this? or does it work just fine with boil with lid?

If anyone has any knowlage about this I will appreciate your input.

New Norwegian brewer
 
People really don't boil with a lid. It can create undesirable results. I start off with 3/4 gallon more than what I want to finish. You'll figure out your boil off rate. You don't need a vigorous boil. Gently rolling will do.
 
I boil 2 gallon batches and begin with 3 gallons of wort which I boil down to 2 gallons over an hour. Lid off, everything I've read suggests the leaving the lid on will prevent Dimethyl Sulfides from escaping. I've never left the lid on during the boil so I haven't tested the theory but I've never brewed a beer I wouldn't drink. Some better than others of course.
 
If you don't have enough capacity to boil for an hour with the lid off and reach your desired volume/OG, you need a bigger pot. It's not unheard of to make up for low volume and high OG by topping up with filtered or distilled water at the end of the boil.
 
Thank guys for the input. so from here on I will boil without lid. Like you says it's just water, and I will find how much more wter I will need for the boil.
I appreciate your feedback, thanks.
 
The boil-off rate can remain tricky for a couple reasons (especially for us noobs):

  • If using flame heat, getting used to the sound and the roll of the boil. A little higher or lower can mean a quart or so either way.
  • Depending on the temperature of your wort at pre-boil. As liquids expand with heat. Boiling water is ~10% greater in volume than ~room temperature water.
Just my two cents
 
Boil off rate remains tricky for some of us older brewers as well. Here in Colorado, I have wind to deal with. It can be dead calm at the beginning of brew day and a near-gale by the time I light the burner. Also, lower atmospheric pressure at 6,000', water boils easier (boiling point here is for all practical purposes 200 degrees F). The "expansion factor" for wort is closer to 4%, that is, your hot wort is 104% the volume of the chilled wort - something to keep in mind both for volume and gravity purposes, although we generally chill wort before taking the gravity reading. But the biggest enemy of boiling outdoors with an open flame is wind. I have to boil at a higher flame than I'd like because of it.
 
Boiling water is ~10% greater in volume than ~room temperature water.
That's amazing. I was wondering myself how much the volume changes from boil to 60F (15C) and I found this online calculator:

http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/volumetric-temperature-expansion-d_315.html

It shows that from 60F to 212F the wort (water) expands @ .532 of a gallon and from 42F to boil it's nearly .6 of a gallon. I have been measuring final volume before I chill and that's not as accurate.
 
I have mistakenly boiled with lid on and not had any problems.However i tend to either leave it off altogether or have it half on with no probs.
sometimes i get my quantities spot on ,others i sometimes have to top up the fv to desired amount.
If topping up is required and it's lowered the OG,you can always add some spray malt to adjust.
 
I have mistakenly boiled with lid on and not had any problems.However i tend to either leave it off altogether or have it half on with no probs.
sometimes i get my quantities spot on ,others i sometimes have to top up the fv to desired amount.
If topping up is required and it's lowered the OG,you can always add some spray malt to adjust.
I tend to believe water is a lot cheaper than DME (Spray malt). So I'll plan my boils to require me to add water rather than extract. Those expansion numbers - I just reran them: A volume of water - wort is not water - expands by 0.0525, or 5.25% - from 20°C to 95°C. I can't find a thermal expansion coefficient for wort or even sugar solutions but the number of around 4% seems to be a generally accepted figure. My wort generally appears to shrink by about 0.25 gal from an initial volume of 6 gal for a shrinkage of just over 4%. If you over-concentrate your boil a bit, nothing is harmed. Adding a quart or 250 ml of water to top up to expected volume or density is not a problem. It's easier than having too much water in the kettle.
 
Never never boil with a lid on! The reason for the boil is to sterilize the wort and boil off compounds that give off flavors mainly DMS precursors.watch the beersmith podcast with prof.Charlie Bamford on boiling wort but if you like the flavor of cooked cabbage in your beer by all means leave the lid on! Lol
 
Never never boil with a lid on! The reason for the boil is to sterilize the wort and boil off compounds that give off flavors mainly DMS precursors.watch the beersmith podcast with prof.Charlie Bamford on boiling wort but if you like the flavor of cooked cabbage in your beer by all means leave the lid on! Lol
No I dont like cabbage taste on my beer. Thanks for input ;)
 

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