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dickTed

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In chapter 7 verse 3 of How To Brew, Palmer says "Once the Hot break has occurred, add the bittering hops...".

Does he mean when the hot break starts, finishes or during?

PS. This is a serious question.
 
Watch your wort as it comes up to boil temperature and you will see flakes of gunk (hot break) appearing. Let the wort boil for 10 minutes and then add your bittering hops.

Once the surface is rolling, it is impossible to see what the hot break is doing.

I use a 90 minute boil and add my bittering hops 30 minutes after the wort has started boiling.
 
dickTed said:
In chapter 7 verse 3 of How To Brew, Palmer says "Once the Hot break has occurred, add the bittering hops...".

Does he mean when the hot break starts, finishes or during?

PS. This is a serious question.
[post="57087"][/post]​

After the hot break has subsided, I reckon. Occurred is past tense after all.

The hop addition is going to create more foaming and risk of boilover in itself. You could have some very vigorous activity if you add hops to the middle of the hot break.

As he says in the previous verse, re hop additions and the hot break - "the extra boiling time won't hurt."

At least in the print edition, if you look at the pictures he's produced - the one referring to hot break shows a very vigorous foaming boil. In the picture showing the hop addition, the boil has clearly subsided.

Hope this helps

awrabest, stu
 
Thanks for your answers.

Last brew I steeped the crystal malt, then added a kg of extract to the runnings, and let it simmer on my lowest gas setting with the lid off, while I washed dishes, and occasionally went to the laundry where I wash soaking the fermenter, etc.

When I came back into the kitchen it was almost boiling over. Perfect accidental timing. Just caught it.

So for the first 20 mins it was OK, but for the next 15 minutes, until I turned it off, it wanted to fluff up and boil over all the time.

Is that normal?
 
A watched pot never boils. An unwatched pot will boil over.

Boilovers are messy. The best option is to turn off the stove, move the pot and clean it up before the stuff sets and burns.

For extract brewers, bring your fluid to the boil, turn off the heat, add the malt extract, stir thoroughly to dissolve, then turn the heat back on, bring back to the boil while watching closely, boil for 10 minutes, and then, you may turn your back and move onto other tasks while your boil is completed. No lids. Only put the lid on for the last few minutes to sanitise the underside of the lid, while you are watching closely for boilovers.

Make sure you have enough water in your pot for the amount of extract you are adding. High gravity boils are more prone to boilovers.

Dickted, am unsure about the reason for the behaviour of your latest batch. Maybe you thought it was simmering, but it wasn't up to that temperature. Maybe it was approaching simmer, you went away, it simmered then boiled. Maybe your gas pressure altered, maybe a draft was in the room that stopped, maybe, due to the heat in your kitchen not getting away, the pot got hotter. Maybe the amount of evaporation in the first 20 minutes was enough to push the extract: water ratio the wrong way and cause the boilup.
 
wee stu said:
dickTed said:
In chapter 7 verse 3 of How To Brew, Palmer says "Once the Hot break has occurred, add the bittering hops...".

Does he mean when the hot break starts, finishes or during?

PS. This is a serious question.
[post="57087"][/post]​

After the hot break has subsided, I reckon. Occurred is past tense after all.

The hop addition is going to create more foaming and risk of boilover in itself. You could have some very vigorous activity if you add hops to the middle of the hot break.

As he says in the previous verse, re hop additions and the hot break - "the extra boiling time won't hurt."

At least in the print edition, if you look at the pictures he's produced - the one referring to hot break shows a very vigorous foaming boil. In the picture showing the hop addition, the boil has clearly subsided.

Hope this helps

awrabest, stu
[post="57095"][/post]​

Aye, Wee Stu, my name should be McShane for I agree with you wholeheartedly. Apart from the fact that a watched pot never boils, you can be sure that when it does and you add hopps, it will be extra angry and will complain for upsetting the equilibrium. I am sure that what Palmer was referring to was to make sure that hot break has occured (passed tense) and in fact settled down to a rolling boil before you add anything like hopps to it for it will agitate it again for which you need to watch, for it might boil over again.

Keep on Brewin'
Cheers... :beer:
 
OTOH about 6 hop pellets added before the boil will greatly reduce the foam & risk of boilovers

Jovial Monk
 
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