So I was brewing a Witbier yesterday, and i had a pretty good boil going. I go to add the hops and immediately upon addition of the first package, the wort just got violent and overflowed out of my brewpot. (Had about 4in space between the top of my pot and the wort, was boiling about 2 gallons). Long story short, I moved the pot to another burner (electric stove), and tried to salvage the batch. I lost some wort with some hops, but the rest of the boil went normal. I checked my gravity and it was about where it should be for OG. (1.04).
I pitched my yeast after everything cooled off, but no activity in my airlock. I know airlock activity isn’t necessarily indicitive of whats going on, but has me a liitle worried.
If your gravity is there you should be fine. But, as an aside, I notice a lot of people boil the living hell out of their wort. This really isn’t necessary. As long as the wort is turning over you should be good. If you are boiling so hard that you get an overflow when you add the hops this is a sure sign that the you need to crank back on the burner some.
One of my first brews boiled over BAD, though I lost a bit of volume, the beer was still great. I cranked my burner down, keep a closer eye during additions and until the hot break hits, and no problems since. Enjoy your brew…
Next time I will avoid the “vigorous boil.” Thank you!
As an aside, and a note… it always helps to make sure the lid is securely on the fermenting bucket! I wasn’t seeing any activity so I gave in and checked the bucket. Found the lid wasn’t tightly on in all places. Opened it up and saw visible signs of fermentation. Closed everything tight, and the airlock started immediately. I am a happy brewer and can’t wait for this batch to finish.
Time to start getting another batch together in the meantime.