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Boil Off

KWMTrumpet

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May 17, 2012
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What is the best way to test your kettle and burner?
My Equipment:

Camp Chief Burner
10 Gallon Stainless steal pot

Thanks

Kevin
 
Brew a beer.  Then, hone in your equipement settings.  You can figure around 1 gal of boil off per hour or so.  Put 7-7.5 gallons of water and see how long it gets to a boil.  Then, boil for an hour.  It's a waste of propane though so would just brew your first beer!  Good luck,

Mark
 
yep.  Just make a beer.  With just a pot, there's nothing tricky about it.  Pick one of the 10 gallon pot profiles and go for it!

Have fun!
 
Next batch, measure the volume of what you're putting into your kettle.  Write it down.  Boil for the usual hour, chill it, and measure what's left.  The difference is your boil off rate.
 
While figuring out all these volumes and evaporations, it is helpful to have a dowel or some smooth rod like that to measure one gallon increments inside your pots. 

Add a gallon, dip the dowel, notch the dowel at the water line, repeat. 

I use a small dowel every time for the MLT and used a big one to figure out my boiler.  You can also use such a dowel to measure these losses below valves and such.
 
BeerSmith autp-calcs your cooling shrinkage post boil at 4%...unless you change it.






 
MaltLicker said:
While figuring out all these volumes and evaporations, it is helpful to have a dowel or some smooth rod like that to measure one gallon increments inside your pots. 

Add a gallon, dip the dowel, notch the dowel at the water line, repeat. 

I use a small dowel every time for the MLT and used a big one to figure out my boiler.  You can also use such a dowel to measure these losses below valves and such.

Wow, great idea. I've been using a ss ruler and an excel spreadsheet. I never thought to use a wooden dowel, my ss ruler is hard to read and at my age I need something a little simpler. 
 
I use white PVC and black sharpie numbers so I can see in the steam.  I measured bu adding one gallon to my kettle, then measured the rim on the kettle to the top of the water.  Then did that with two more gallons.  After that, the distance between marks is the same.  I always measure top of the kettle to the top of the wort.  It has always been close enough.
 
Hmmm...I have a sight glass on the side of my keggle.  It makes it SOOOOoooo easy to monitor my boil-off rate, and total boil-off.  In fact I get mesmerized watching the level slowly fall over the course of a boil. 
 
This was the last step in my dial in process. Bring your runnings to near boil, turn off the heat, measure volume with whatever you use, bring it back up to the boil rate you typically use, wait one hour, turn off the heat, measure the difference and do the math. Remember your final product will be 4% less after cooling.
 
Boiloff is a recipe parameter too me--- so, i control it. Every 7 minutes or so I assess and adjust my flame to reach my target boiloff.
 
tom_hampton said:
Boiloff is a recipe parameter too me--- so, i control it. Every 7 minutes or so I assess and adjust my flame to reach my target boiloff.
I do the hour check to see if I'm on track. Usually the wind is the determining factor in any boil rate change. This sets me up for the aroma hop additions so I know if the last 15 - 20 minutes is on track.
 
I have a keggle, so wind is a non-factor for me.  But, a 1/8th of a turn on my gas valve is the difference between 10% and 20% per hour...in other words too slow and too fast. 

I check every 7 minutes early on (first 30 minutes) to make sure I'm boiling at the right rate.  I don't want to get to the 30 minute mark (or the hour mark!) and find I have been boiling too slow or fast.  To me...by then its too late, I've already changed the character of the beer in one way or another. 

If I haven't added hops, its "okay".  I can add water back and/or adjust the flame.  But, if I've added hops I would run the risk of having a significant impact on the final hop character.  But, still after 30-60 minutes at too high of a flame, I will have imparted some melanoidin flavors and darkened the beer whether I wanted to or not. 

I target a specific boil-off based on my recipe....may be 12.5%/hour for <5 SRM beers, or 15-25%/hr for beers where I WANT some melanoidin character. 
 
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