safe to cover?

[belsonc]

Hey all -

A topic I don't believe I've ever seen discussed...

When, exactly, is it safe to cover my boil (at any stage)? I know boil isn't the word I want there, but forgive me - it's early. :)

I'm going to be making a barleywine later today, but the type of beer notwithstanding, if there's a way I can cut down on the time it takes without sacrificing quality, I'd love to. As far as I can tell, I should be able to cover after steeping my grains, until I get my boil - then leave the cover off, to prevent against DMS, but what about after the boil? I'm not sure if it would make any sense to cover then or not, but... thoughts? Thanks in advance. :-)

-CB

[vw addict]

Leave uncovered during the boil for sure. After the boil I leave uncovered when I start running water through the chiller. When it gets down below 180 I usually throw the cover back on.

[S.F.B.]

Until you start to get the boil going it is okay to have it covered. Watch it though. You know what happens when you cover boiling pasta, don't you? You'll spend the rest of the day, or more cleaning.

[Mad Scientist]

I generaly view covering the kettle after you flame it out as an opprotunty for DMS to form, so I wouldn't unless you use an immersion chiller and the temp has dropped (as per vw addict)

[beerking]

You are correct on that, Mad. IIRC, the critical temp is anything above 140F, but I may be off. Bottom line is until the beer is close to pitching temp, DMS precursors lurk in the steam and should not be allowed to condense and fall back into the pot.

[dparsons]

I cover mine before the boil to help it heat up faster. Once I'm close to a boil the lid gets moved to let gasses out.

[JayShaw91]

I do the same thing as dparsons...

[belsonc]

Thanks for all the answers, guys - I ended up covering it intermittently (see the pasta comment below) before the boil to get it up to temperature faster, and then proceeded with my barleywine as usual.


1.111. :D


-CB