Burco boil off

[jayk34]

Would be interested to hear the boil off rate for others who use the burco/cygnet boiler for boiling wort.

I appear to be getting somewhere in the region of 5.6litres per hour. I'm obviously not hitting the targets for the recipes in the Greg Hughes book but can dilute at the end to bring the totals almost in line.

For example, today done the Dry Stout recipe that gives 23 litres at OG of 1.048. I got 20.5 litres at 1.054 but decided against diluting as I stupidly tipped the treated cooled water down the drain.

 

[Gerryjo]

Would be interested to hear the boil off rate for others who use the burco/cygnet boiler for boiling wort.

I appear to be getting somewhere in the region of 5.6litres per hour. I'm obviously not hitting the targets for the recipes in the Greg Hughes book but can dilute at the end to bring the totals almost in line.

For example, today done the Dry Stout recipe that gives 23 litres at OG of 1.048. I got 20.5 litres at 1.054 but decided against diluting as I stupidly tipped the treated cooled water down the drain.

Out of curiosity how are you calculating your water amount going into your boiler to get your boil off rates as that is a bit excessive.The most I ever got was 4l and I calibrated mine by weight 1L=1Kg.

 

[jayk34]

Out of curiosity how are you calculating your water amount going into your boiler to get your boil off rates as that is a bit excessive.The most I ever got was 4l and I calibrated mine by weight 1L=1Kg.

For this one, I heated 27litres (up to the max line marker) to a few degrees higher than mash temperature and then drew off 15litres into cool box for sparging. I then completed mash and used sparge water and a few kettles more to make it up to 27 litre max line again pre-boil. I then boiled for 70 minutes and transferred everything from the boiler to the fv after cooling and had a total of 20.5 litres.

I make that 27 litres per boil - 20.5 litres in fv = 6.5 litres boil off / 70 minutes * 60 minutes = 5.56 litres/hour.

 

[Gerryjo]

Thats a lot for sure and I've no idea why except where you are located in height above sea level as can be seen here.

 

[jayk34]

Thats a lot for sure and I've no idea why except where you are located in height above sea level as can be seen here.

Well at least I now know its a bit high. Can dilute in future. I am only 72m above sea level. Only achieved a 98°C boil again with this one and the previous recipe but it was a good rolling boil and started the 70 minutes based on the wort starting to boil rather than the temperature on the thermometer.

Think I will try a test with just water at the weekend to see if I get similar results again.

 

[jayk34]

@Gerryjo

Had a few thoughts on the commute home.

1. Are you boiling on the "high" setting ? I currently have the dial the entire way around to high. Was wondering if I turned my down a bit for a less vigorous boil if that would help.

2. When are you taking the lid of the boil stage ? I have just been leaving it off after sparging and just realised that maybe I should be having the lid on until the wort comes close to a rolling boil before taking it off. This might allow for more volume ?

Cheers

 

[Gerryjo]

I don't keep the lid on as your would wort will produce DMS which need to evaporate and can cause off flavours in your beer.
The simmerstat is on full and the fact your boiling over 90mins with the lid on will give you a vigorous boil off rate and will contribute to darkening your final product.
Some people do no boil,30,45 and 60mins but there certainly less who do a 90min boil unless you have too much wort.

 

[jayk34]

I don't keep the lid on as your would wort will produce DMS which need to evaporate and can cause off flavours in your beer.
The simmerstat is on full and the fact your boiling over 90mins with the lid on will give you a vigorous boil off rate and will contribute to darkening your final product.
Some people do no boil,30,45 and 60mins but there certainly less who do a 90min boil unless you have too much wort.

I'm only boiling 70 minutes with the lid off. The only time i have the lid on is for the mash time. Just thought that if I kept lid on until near the start of the rolling boil and then off for 70 minutes that I would lose less volume.

 

[Gerryjo]

I'm only boiling 70 minutes with the lid off. The only time i have the lid on is for the mash time. Just thought that if I kept lid on until near the start of the rolling boil and then off for 70 minutes that I would lose less volume.

Sorry got carried away there.Cut your boil down to 30 or 45 mins as you won't notice any difference as well as saving time and wort.

 

[Cestrian]

My last boiler had a vigorous boil that used to splash out over the worktop during the boil. I used to calm it down a bit by put the immersion cooler in and just cracking the water on to it. This should reduce your boil off rate.

 

[Wynne]

@Gerryjo

Had a few thoughts on the commute home.

1. Are you boiling on the "high" setting ? I currently have the dial the entire way around to high. Was wondering if I turned my down a bit for a less vigorous boil if that would help.

2. When are you taking the lid of the boil stage ? I have just been leaving it off after sparging and just realised that maybe I should be having the lid on until the wort comes close to a rolling boil before taking it off. This might allow for more volume ?

Cheers

I usea Cygnet 30l and keep the lid 3/4 on during the boil to retain a bit of heat and set the thermostat to High. If you turn it down it won’t boil. I use one of @foxbat’s power regulators to control boil intensity and reduce boil-off losses.

https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/...a-cheap-digital-boiler-power-regulator.74112/
It works well. I also by-passed the thermal cut-out as this can trigger when boiling wort.

As @Gerryjo says you can shorten the boil - technically, you will extract less bitterness from the hops but whether you will taste the difference is another matter.

 

[jayk34]

I usea Cygnet 30l and keep the lid 3/4 on during the boil to retain a bit of heat and set the thermostat to High. If you turn it down it won’t boil. I use one of @foxbat’s power regulators to control boil intensity and reduce boil-off losses.

https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/...a-cheap-digital-boiler-power-regulator.74112/
It works well. I also by-passed the thermal cut-out as this can trigger when boiling wort.

As @Gerryjo says you can shorten the boil - technically, you will extract less bitterness from the hops but whether you will taste the difference is another matter.

Thanks, will have a read of that tonight when I get home from work