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We've recently upgraded from a steam jacketed kettle to a kettle heated only via an external colandria, which returns the wort over a "china hat". I'm trying to determine whether I'm getting a "good" boil with the new kettle, but don't really know what I'm looking for besides evaporation rate. Should the colandria boil be "rolling" like a conventional boil, or should it look more like a simmer with volatility only in the wort that's going over the china hat?
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A good external calandria boil
Hi Woolsocks,
Boiling with an external calandria setup occurs in the calandria, not the copper. Once the discharge from the calandria enters the copper, the wort 'flashes' getting rid of the heat that the calandria has added to the wort which at atmospheric pressure will not reach over 212 deg F (give or take). So the wort in the copper is effectively a reservoir for the calandria. Naturally, evaporation over the brew length is a telling factor as to how much energy is being expended during the boil, but do not expect a rolling boil in the copper.
I design and build direct fired calandrias and the lack of a rolling boil has been pointed out to me. However, once you see the wort/vapour in the sight glass at the discharge end of the calandria, there is no doubt that extremely vigorous boiling is taking place.
Regards
Michael George
mike@michaelgeorgeassociates.com
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