Boil volume loss

I seem to lose a lot of volume during the boil. Once the heat break occurs, should I leave the lid on the boil pot to minimize this loss?

Need more information on your boil volume. Usually not recommended to boil with a lid on the kettle. Boiling with the lid on can cause precursors to DMS to remain in the wort.

Large boil off volume can be due to holding a too vigorous boil increasing excessive evaporation. A boil just needs enough heat to keep the surface of the wort rolling. Creating small volcanoes is excessive.

Very slow rolling boil…. nice and relaxed, OR plan to make a larger quantity then boil a little harder, which is what I do…. Sneezles61

Thanks. It sure would have been awesome if Northern Brewer had mentioned this in the instructions.

Does Northern Brewer still include the DVD with their starter kit? I feel like a lot of the stuff on that DVD was very helpful when I started out.

Yes, but it is the same video from their YouTube channel. Very high level, basic stuff. Nothing about evaporation loss.

Don’t leave the lid on just measure your boil off and plan accordingly. You can always add more water after the boil if you are doing extract. A little trickier if your doing all grain

NB instructions are for partial boils if I recall correctly. Mostly for the fact that new brewers don’t start out with equipment for full volume boils. Like mentioned extract batches can be topped off to 5 gallons no problem. There are multiple variables that affect boil off rates. I think 10%-15% is considered normal. I start with around 6.5 gallons and adjust boil vigor as needed. Boil off will also concentrate the wort and increase the gravity.

Me bring the 5 gallon water to a boil. Once done steeping ready add the grain water. 1.5 gallon. Boil again once start to add the products. Leave the lid of a bit. End of boil do end up with 5 gallons no need to add cold water