So I brewed my second batch on Saturday night. It was a Brewer's Best American Light extract kit. I started by boiling 2.5 gallons of water then added my LME. Things were going well. Then I added the hops and all of the sudden, I lost my boil, as in I couldn't make the wort boil. I boil on an electric stove and had it turned up to high and until the hops were added everything was boiling away. Finally about 15 minutes after I added the hops, I got the idea to cover it and that seemed to work and I didn't have any boil overs. My question is how will this effect my beer if the instructions said to boil the hops for 40 minutes and I wasn't technically boiling for 15 minutes. In hindsight, I should have stopped the clock but I wasn't that smart unfortunately and just kept it going.
Couldn't keep my boil going
- Thread starter tsimo33
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bruin_ale
Well-Known Member
You may have some reduced bitterness, but it shouldn't be a huge deal as you can still extract some alpha acids at near boil.
One tip, you can cover things back up to get the boil going - but once it's boiling again you want to uncover it as much as you can to prevent DMS (a cooked corn/vegetal character).
One tip, you can cover things back up to get the boil going - but once it's boiling again you want to uncover it as much as you can to prevent DMS (a cooked corn/vegetal character).
It probably won't have too much of an effect - if you're boiling the hops, the temp is maybe just over 212 F, but even if it dropped off a few degrees I doubt that would have a measurable effect on resultant IBU. After all, you were still applying heat as much as you could.
Also, it is best to keep the lid off while boiling to allow DMS to escape. I would also argue its not a big deal to put the lid on while you're trying to achieve a boil (but only if you absolutely must). Once you get to a boil, remove it.
Also, it is best to keep the lid off while boiling to allow DMS to escape. I would also argue its not a big deal to put the lid on while you're trying to achieve a boil (but only if you absolutely must). Once you get to a boil, remove it.
Thanks for responses. To be clear, I did cover to obtain the boil but uncovered after because I could tell there was chance for a boil over if I hadn't. It is strange though because for my first batch I had no issue and it was basically the same setup. Oh well. Live and learn.
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