I recently did a stout that had a big grain bill. I batch sparged. After draining the sparge I realized that I was getting rather dark runnings. I thought, I bet there are still a fair amount of sugars in there but I did not sparge more bcause I already had 7 gallons of wort. If I had sparged again and got another gallon I would probably have to boil for over 2 hours to get down to 5.5 gallons of finished wort. Is there a problem with boiling for long periods of time?
No problem at all. I once boiled for 11 hours just to get to a certain OG 1.135 without adding DME. My burners are NG so I ddin’t really care about gas.
I once did an 87 hour boil on a biere de Noel. Got some nice Maillard reaction byproducts
[quote=“Denny”]I once did an 87 hour boil on a biere de Noel. Got some nice Maillard reaction byproducts[/quote]87 hours? That’s more than a drunken stupor!
What was the inspiration? Was the purpose to get the Maillard byproducts or did you collect third runnings from all your mashes over a couple months then need that much time to bring the OG above 1.060?
Damn fingers…8 hours! 
You know Denny, at first I thought you were just making a wise assed comment. Then I thought, no, you are usually very straight up with your posts. Glad that was a slip of the finger because I was starting to think that to get perfect flavor I was going to have to try an 87 hour boil some day. I was thinking, how will my boss respond when I say “OK, I need 2 and a half weeks vacation to brew a batch of beer”.
I mean, what better reason for a vacation?
My wife would be in open rebellion if I tried that. I was going to ask how you got away with that when I saw your correction.
My wife would be in open rebellion if I tried that. I was going to ask how you got away with that when I saw your correction.[/quote]
even for an 8 hour boil, I waited til she was out of town for the weekend.
[quote=“Denny”][quote=“rut6er”][quote=“Denny”]
even for an 8 hour boil, I waited til she was out of town for the weekend.[/quote][/quote][/quote]
Good. I’m real glad I’m not the only one who plans their brewdays for when SWMBO is not at home :lol:
I sort of wish Denny’s post wouldn’t have been corrected. Considering how many brewers hold Denny’s experience in such high regard, I’ll bet more than a few folks would’ve tried a 3-1/2 day boil. It would’ve been really fun to hear their stories. Maybe the thread should be renamed “Making your own DME”.
I would check the BG to see if you indeed had more sugar than expected then I would add enough sparge water to hit your mark. From there you could just remove the extra wort or make a bigger batch and split into two fermenters. If your BG was high and you just boiled to your mark I would think your OG would be higher than expected. It’s just a thought.
100 gallon kettle for 95 gallon starting volume to account for boiloff for a 5 gallon batch would be all kinds of fun!
:cheers:
Rad
Damn fingers…8 hours! [/quote]
I thought he was making an April Fool’s joke, but he wrote this well before April 1st. I’m just reading it on the first.
