Kettle wouldnt get to temp - whats the outcome?

[Colin Steven]

Hi All,

Attempted to brew an Amber Ale of sorts last night using some ingredients i have had kicking around for a while and felt needed using up. Problem is that when it came to the boil my kettle kept cutting before getting to temperature so didnt get a rolling boil. Measured it and it was at 96 deg C. What would be the upshot of this - would it mean that i didnt get much flavour out of my hops?

Thanks
Col

[Eric]

It won't be the best beer you'll make, a lot of important reactions occur during the boil and the hops are but part and have a minor role. You can get good hop flavours at 96C or less.
You need to find the cause. Don't be tempted to bypass the thermal protection, it is there for your safety. The element was likely getting too hot because it couldn't transfer sufficient heat into the wort. This could be a fault with that element but it is often caused by deposits of limescale or more frequently excessive amounts of grain from the mash burning onto the element.
Make sure the element is clean before you boil and if after the boil the element can't be wiped clean of most of debris with a soft cloth, try to determine why. If grain in the kettle is the cause, improve your mashing system/technique

[Colin Steven]

Thanks for the reply. It doesnt neccasarily mean it was clean but i cleaned the elemnet a couple of brews ago. I have had a problem with the kettle not getting to temp before but maintenance guy at work looked at it and it was fine last time out. Will clean element and try and boil some water and see if works and if not will see the maintenance guy again.
I presume that the beer would still be drinkable wouldnt it? I havent added yeast yet - do you think i would be better off putting as much of the beer as i can into saucepans and boiling again?

[jimp2003]

My advice would to pitch the yeast asap if you have not already done so. As Eric said it probably will not be your best beer but it should still be more than just drinkable. Trying to boil it again in batches now may well end up making things worse...

[Eric]

I don't know the answer, when I used to have those sort of problems I was able to empty the boiler, clean the element to get a reasonable length of boil. Do you think it was long enough to sterilise the wort? If not, then boil it until you are sure.
The fact you had to clean your element a couple of brews back and your maintenance guy's testament suggests the failure is undesirable contents adhering to the element. If it has a smooth grey/white coating it will be limescale which best removed with a proprietary descaler until you reduce the amount in your water after becoming au fait with water treatment. If it consists of brown/black, recycle your wort until it runs reasonably clear and/or dissolve any sugars before adding to the boil. If it is both, deal with the water last.