[3bbrewing]

Greetings all...  Does anyone use boiling chips in their flash when boiling wort for a starter?  I've used these in chemistry a lot to prevent boil overs and thought they might be helpful in this application too.  Just curious if anyone has tried using them and what their results were...or any thoughts on using them in general.

Thank you!

[Phil_M]

I'm guessing these provide nucleation sites for the steam? I've noticed since the flask is smooth the water doesn't always want to boil when it's at temperature.

I've started putting my stir bar in the flask when I boil, which seems to suffice as a nucleation point.

[duboman]

NOt familiar with boiling chips but I use ferm-cap S, one drop in the flask is all it takes to prevent a boil over.

[Stevie]

I think these are intended to prevent superheating a liquid and creating a potentially explosive boil, not for preventing boil overs. Superheating is heating something beyond its boiling point. This can happen when there are no nucleation sites for the vapor to form. A liquid that is superheated is extremely unstable and the slightest bump can create a single bubble setting off a violent chain reaction.


One safety tip when boiling water in the microwave, especially RO or distilled, is to add a wooden skewer to create nucleation sites.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAqqpDF4bVw