My friend and I are aspiring MasterBrewers (not really but wouldn't that be fun, Jim Koch makes it look easy) and we have just finished our 4th brew. We have a Sham Sam (Sam Adams Replica) in a secondary carboy, and a Oktoberfest in a primary bucket.

Something I have noticed on every brew we have done is an explosion of hops. When we add the hops pellets the wort tends to boil over, even if its on a simmer. Do any of my brew friends here have any recommendations as to avoiding this.

Bigger pot! I know that's not helpful. An old cooking trick is to keep a spray bottle with water close by, just spray the foam down as it rises until it stops foaming. It requires a few minutes of "babysitting", but it'll work. Oh yeah, don't forget to scrape the hops from the side of the pot back down into the brew...make sure to get all that hoppy goodness!

Did you really use the term Master Brewer in conjunction with the name Jim Koch?

That was the best laugh I've had all day. I think I owe Sam Adams some business just for the chuckle I got from that.

penguinfogel wrote:Did you really use the term Master Brewer in conjunction with the name Jim Koch?

Generally, my motto is, "I don't like every beer, but I always appreciate them." I don't think anyone can discount what Jim Koch has done for bringing craft brewing closer to mainstream in this country.

Having said that, I feel like I sound like a better-than-thou jack-a**. That's not my intent. Simply attempting some conversation.

P.S. I'm not a fan of the Sam Adams line by a long shot.

Not to hijack this topic further but I fully agree with you Curlyfat. He deserves some respect for the press he gave craft brewing, and I do appreciate a beer even if I don't like it. After all many a hop vine gave it's life for my favorite beverage. I was mostly laughing because Jim is a guy who is more of a marketing genius then a brewer. When he founded the company he used his great great grandfathers recipe, had a real brewer reformulate it, and financed the whole deal without ever touching the wort. He is by far a marketing genius. I've seen those commercials of him in front of those copper kettles back when his beer was produced in a brewery in Pittsburgh that probably had never looked like a microbrewery in it's entire existance.

Back on topic

I had a bad boil over on my first ever batch of beer and immediatly bought a bigger pot. Problem is I now fill that pot full in an attempt to boil as much water as I can with the wort. I just watch it like a hawk, and stir continuesly when I add anything to the pot. I have yet to have a boil over, although I have had minor eruptions where the pan throws a small amount of boiling wort on my hands and wrists in an act of revenge

My knew rule is never post buzzed. I wrote far more then I meant to write.

penguinfogel wrote:When he founded the company he used his great great grandfathers recipe, had a real brewer reformulate it, and financed the whole deal without ever touching the wort. He is by far a marketing genius. I've seen those commercials of him in front of those copper kettles back when his beer was produced in a brewery in Pittsburgh that probably had never looked like a microbrewery in it's entire existance.

Great insight! I never knew the real story.

I've heard that putting about 20 marbles into your boil pot helps to prevent boilovers, but I've never tried it. Give it a go, and let us know how it turns out!

Oh, and I like Sam Adams! It's not as good as some craft beers I've had (i.e. not my favorite), but it's way better than some others. I'd take a Boston Lager over many many other beers, and not just BMC either. But it really doesn't compare to a good Heiner Brau porter.

Cheers,
Dave

Yeah, I have had that hop explosion problem as well. I learned to brew in a small micro, or more like nano, brewpub in Pennsylvania. Even in our sizable kettle (10 BBL, I believe), we had the same issue with the boil over. The solution that we used there that I still use to date is the spray bottle. It works out mighty well, and I find that it seems to work even better if you make lasergun sounds while you squeeze the trigger. That, however, may just be in my head.
All the Best!
Danny

When we add the hops pellets the wort tends to boil over, even if its on a simmer.

I'm afraid this is the price ones pays for using hop pellets. Once the pellets break apart the resultant hop particles act as nucleation sites for bubble formation. The same sort of process is used in cloud seeding except that the iodine? is used to provide nucleation sites for droplet formation. At any rate, the bubbles form and boil overs are frequent.

You can do as Curlyfat suggests and use a spray water to keep the form down. I've used this myself and it seems to work. Alternatively you can use another old cooking trick and add some marbles to the bottom of the kettle. I've heard this works but I'm not entirely sure what the marbles do though. Perhaps the marbles provide nucleation sites earlier in the process so the effect of the pellet addition is not so dramatic. At any rate, if anybodys knows what the marbles do please let us know.

Now with respect to Jim Koch I am not even going to get involved. I like Boston Brewing's beers and I believe Koch is a good spokes person for his company and craft brewing in general and I'm going to leave it at that.

- Scott

I just stir it when it starts up. And you gotta kill the heat real fast too. After a couple minutes it will be fine.