Boiling question

[segallis]

My last two brews were extracts using 9 pounds of DME and steeping about 2 pounds of grains. Both were partial boils, about 3 gals, in a 4 gal pot on my gas cooktop. Both had messy boil overs when I took my eye off the pot at a bad time (probably 35 to 45 mins into the boil).

My last batch was mostly mash (10 pounds of grain) and 3 pounds of DME and a full boil in a 9 gal kettle on a turkey fryer (mush higher output than my gas cooktop). Despite a more violent boil, I never got the boil over I was expecting - not even much foam during the boil.

So my question is does a more violent boil lessen the chances of a boil over? Or a more diluted wort? Maybe the larger diameter kettle? Or is it mash vs DME?

Just curious what to expect in the future

 

[sfgoat]

It's pretty much about the dme to water ratio. Initially I find the more vigorous the boil the better to get a good hot break but then I turn it down a bit to just maintain a rolling boil. In the second batch you mentioned you had a lot less dme than the first which is likely why you didn't boil over. If consistent boil overs are an issue I would get a bigger pot for one or what I did when I first started out doing extract which was to heat your water to about 140-150, then mix in the dme and then bring the temp to boiling. It seemed that the gradual temp increase with the dme mixed in really helped to avoid boil overs.