I’m going to brew a Traquair House Clone Wee Heavy and am trying to understand the boil down method. Can I run off a gal of first running and boil down prior to adding all the running a to the kettle? Or is it best to find a separate kettle/pot to do the boil down? Would a shallow Teflon lined pan be better (I.e. boiling down a couple times)? How is the cleanup with this process? I.e. should i expect a ton of pot scrubbing/pbw soak (if not using a non stick pan) afterwards?
If any doesn’t mind sharing their process details it woul be appreciated.
I boil down 2 gallons of first runnings down to about a quart - a nice thick brown syrup. The best way is to get a much deeper (read that as “BIG”) pot than you think you’ll need, since as the wort boils it foams quite a bit, and gets slower and slower to reduce as time goes by. In my experiences it takes longer than 90 minutes to get it boiled down enough to create the caramelized syrup that, once re-added to the boil, will provide the brewer with the great signature flavor you should be (IMHO) looking for.
I run off the mash into the syrup pot and the rest, plus the sparge, into the kettle, and actually start boiling the syrup for 1/2 hour before even beginning the kettle boil. For me that works about right, although even this way I’ve gone a good 2-hour boil total for the full volume boil.
Sorry, a gallon or so of wort is correct for 5 gal of beer. I forgot that for me I boil down 2.2 gal of first runnings wort for 10 gal of beer. So your reduction boil time would be different than mine.
Also, I brew outside and so set up a separate propane burner in the same brew area to make the syrup, so I can keep a close eye on it.
I appreciate the feedback, I don’t know why I thought the boil would happen quickly, but it makes sense. I hope to pick up a sack of golden promise at my LHBS and give it a try this weekend. I will be using a spare 5 gal pot using my primary burner to get it started while Sparging and moving to a camp stove with both burners going to finish it off.
Sounds like a good plan Tony. Golden Promise is the way to go fer sher. I’ve seen Denny and others post about keeping the ferment at the very low end of the range for the finished beer to pick up good yeast-derived smoky flavor. Also, based on Skotrat’s advice to use Northern Brewer hops I always have and they’re simply awesome. I currently have this beer on tap and everyone who tries it loves it, even after numerous months in the last (2nd) keg I have left.
Last time I finished the syrup in a large frying pan, but wished I’d had a big pot - I came close to boil-overs on numerous occasions and it just wouldn’t reduce much further at the late stage, as previously mentioned.
Generally when I make that beer I boil those first runnings for almost two hours, then add that syrup back to the end of the boil (usually the last 15-30 minutes). It takes a long time! One other note on that beer, if using WLP 028, keep the fermentation temp down in the low 60’s or you might get some banana.
