Evaporation from double boiler

[TRANSPLANTED HILLBILLY]

I know there are some double boiler guys on here. My question is how do you deal with evaporation/ boil off from the outer pot.

I have a 60 quart stock pot to use outside and my inner will take up around half that volume. Im thinking it may boil dry toward the end of the run it not topped off.

How do you guys handle it? Intermmitent top off with boiling water, or some type of recycle system of foil around the 2 pots?

[TRANSPLANTED HILLBILLY]

Damn, How do I move my post? Meant to start a new topic.

[TRANSPLANTED HILLBILLY]

Thanks to who ever moved it.

[Grayson_Stewart]

There ya go, I split it off for ya.

Nothin special about the evaporating water, just add water from your household hot water system. Filling with household hot water will even help reduce your boil up times. Shouldn't have to add boiling water unless you have let the thing evaporate several gallons. You shouldn't leave it unattended that long anyway.

This hasn't been discussed much, but be careful with filling a double boiler. As you fill the outer boiler, boyancy will reduce the weight of the internal boiler. If the water surface of the outer boiler is at or higher than the inner mash surface then you have drastically reduced the weight of the mashpot+wash....might find yourself instinctivly grasping at a teetering 180 F copper column once the mash gets to rolling.

[TRANSPLANTED HILLBILLY]

Sounds good Grayson. Hadn't thought of the tippy still problem. That shouldn't be a problem as I am going to cook on the grain this time, and my inner boiler is a little over twice the height of the outer. Definately a good thing to remember for the future.

Not really looking forward to the clean up, But for this batch I think its the way to go. Too many things suspended in the wash. I made this one with corn meal, its settled out OK but if you you even fart in it's general direction, it gets very cloudy rite now.
For now I not a big fan of corn meal, I'll just have to see how it tastes.

Does the copper pieces/ stones /marbles thing help when cooking on the grain, or is the wash usually to thick?

Any tips for this type of run would be helpful.

I'm guessing it's pretty much the same as normal, with the exception of clean up.

[possum]

I've used a doubble boiler, and I found that the tinfoil covering the space between the two vessels helps with heat transfer and slows loss through steam leak. I also like to wrap the whole mess with a thick towel to avoid heat loss.

I also used a cornmeal based mash once, and it gave me so much damned troubble and was quite hard to handle ....made a post titled:

I switched to cracked corn and had none of the troubles.

[LeftLaneCruiser]

Hillbilly,

I too use a double boiler. I was lucky for the part that my boiler was already a bouble walled vessel when i obtained it, i only had to make a hole near the top so it could be filled with water.

In the past i 'suffered' from boiling off also, but nowadays i have the outer shell filled with vegetable oil. My still stands steadier because the water doesn't boil, and i believe the efficiency has improved. (because the oil can get hotter than the wash inside... but this may only be true in my head )
Could the stability of your setup be improved by standing the inner pot on bricks or something ? A layer of marbles or small rocks / pebbles might be usefull: small enough to form a foundation, like sand, and big enough to let the water trough.

For having marbles, pieces of copper, broken pottery or whatever in the wash i believe that always helps. Even with thick washes. I have a glass still, (2 ltr.) for test batches and small experiments, and i always have a few pieces of chopped up scrubbers in the boilerflask. It really helps to break the boil, compared with the times i forgot to add them.

KJH

[TRANSPLANTED HILLBILLY]

Boiler flask? please explain this term. Is it the inner that holds the wash?

[TRANSPLANTED HILLBILLY]

Possum, I remember that post. I was using the corn meal because I had a boat load (read more than I needed in a life time of frying cat fish and chicken) and thought I may as well use it.

The corn meal is a yellow organic from a good grain supplier (everything but malt and sugar). I had bought it sometime back for an early trial at sour mash (Ian Smiley). That was when I knew just enough to be dangerous. Not physically, just tryin' to learn, and still tryin'. This is the same mash you educated me on with the rye malt. we'll see how it goes.

I'm not sure , but I think my elevation kinda skews alot of what you guys talk about sometimes.

Is 2 1/2 hours outa line for the head temp to get to a water boil with the double boiler setup? I'm using a turkey fryer.

[LeftLaneCruiser]

Boiler flask? please explain this term. Is it the inner that holds the wash?

It's the 2 ltr. glass flask i use as boiler. It is heated by an electric mantle.

KJH