About the boil || Online all grain homebrewing course
Channel: Team Homebrew
Date: 09/01/2017

Download the free companion ebook Raw Beer: Getting Into All Grain Brewing. http://teamhomebrew.com/get-free-stuff/all-grain-brewing-beginners-ebook/

Once you have the required volume in the brew pot, take a sample to test with your hydrometer.

Cool the sample to around 68°F (20°C), as heat affects the reading. Record the hydrometer reading.

Bring the pot to the boil.

Keeping the lid on will shorten the time to boil, but it will most definitely boil over if not removed in time.

Stay close and monitor.

Your preboil gravity
This reading will show how much sugar you extracted from the grain and the expected final volume and gravity of your beer.

As mentioned earlier, my preboil gravity was 1.050 and 4.2 gallons (16 L).

This translates to 1.044 in the fermenter after boiling and topping up with cold water to 4.5 gallons (17 L).

If your preboil gravity is higher or lower, you can adjust your bittering levels to balance the beer (see Tweaking).

Otherwise brew to the recipe, taste the results and adjust your hopping next brewing session.

Boiling and boil overs
What’s brown and sticky?

a) A stick
b) Boil overs
c) Both a) and b).

When getting close to the boil, remove the lid.
 
When the wort first starts to boil, it will want to rise up and make a mess.

The best trick for this is a spray bottle with clean, cold water. A couple of sprays will settle it down.

After it rises and falls 3-4 times, it will settle into a good rolling boil.

Always watch and be close to your boiling pot. Be careful positioning lids and have an old towel on hand in case it does boil over.

Adding hops
Set your countdown timer for 70 minutes.

Boil for 10 minutes before adding the first hop addition.

The 10 minute boil help the proteins form into solid pieces and mean your hops will be more efficient.

Add your whirlfloc and hop additions at the set intervals (15 and 2 minutes before the flameout).

Your wort may want to boil up when you tip them in, so have your spray bottle on hand.

Once your boil has finished turn off and begin cooling your wort.