5

I extract brew. After I boil the three gallons of water, I take the kettle off the stove and pour the sugars in, and stir under I'm convinced it has all been dissolved. Placing the kettle back on the stove, I wait until it boils again before I pour in the bittering hops. At this point I do stir a lot, perhaps 3-5 minutes, to make sure that no "solid" part of the hops (I get pellets) would get stuck to the bottom of the kettle.

I do not stir at any time from here to the next hop schedule, where I repeat the 3-5 minute stirring.

Should I be stirring every N minutes, or does it not matter?

Does it matter whether it is extract vs full grain?

|improve this question
5

You don't need to stir regularly.

Hops, pellet or otherwise, do float around pretty freely. I have never heard of hops sticking to the bottom of the pot, nor has it ever happened to me.

I only stir occasionally to get that hop crud of the sides of the pot above the boil line back into the pot. And I stir to manage the foam early on in the process.

Otherwise your process sounds fine the way it is.

|improve this answer
  • I use a rubber spatula to wipe the hops crud back into the boil – Ugly Dude Mar 13 '14 at 20:53
  • 1
    If you have a good boil going, keep in mind that is pretty much doing any stirring for you as well. (Not that you need to.) – mpurkeypile Mar 21 '14 at 20:55
  • I would even say, you don't need to stir at all. At boiling temp your wort is very liquid and the boil itself does the stirring. – markus Mar 25 '14 at 19:59

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.