I saw this in the new Sur La Table catalog, which is supposed to prevent boilovers:
http://www.surlatable.com/product/PRO-1 ... -STOP-LidsHow does it work, and can something similar be created for large brew kettles?
The video they provide appears to be water with a bit of starch in it, similar to when you boil rice. All this apparatus does is increase the surface area of the lid over the pot thus giving more time for the bubbles to dicipate and stopping the boilover from spilling over the side. The vents allow the heat to escape and minimal boilover to pass through which gives the illusion of preventing a boiling over. It is a waste of money. The only way to prevent boilovers is to watch your pot while it is boiling and as soon as the bubbles start to rise reduce your heat accordingly. That is sure to work. This gizmo is the same as the old “pot watcher” from 20 years ago…the pyrex disc that you place in the bottom of your pot so when air bubbles form underneath they cause the cup to tilt and let the trapped air out which creates a loud rattling noise when the disc contacts the pot. This to was supposed to prevent boilovers because it alerted you when the liquid started to boil and you would know to reduce your heat before the boilover occured. A good novelty item but no functional use.
Fermcap-S is sure protection against boiling over - use it at one drop per two gallons of wort and you would have to deliberately try to get a boilover to have one.
I personally just stand over the kettle and mist water over it for a few seconds until the boiling goes down a bit. Then its good to go for the additional time its in the kettle
+1 on the fermcap also. works wonders
ferma cap works great. Never brew with out it.
+1 seems to work for me.
Works well for starters, too – those Pyrex beakers love to boil over, but not with Fermcap-S.
