[fgcosta23]

During the boil it's good to maintain a steady boiling temp for two reasons: 1. Higher temp means you'll boil off your wort faster. If you know how much your vessel boils off per hour at a particular temp you can better predict how much wort in volume needs to go into the kettle for a desired final volume. 2. Hop isoprenoid conversion is dependent on temperature, among other factors. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/j.2050-0416.2010.tb00783.x/pdf and so if you want a consistent hop profile across your batches, you should keep an eye on your boil temp. A hop addition at 30 minutes at a higher boil temp might as well been a 45 min addition at a lower boil temp, and this can be important for the resulting flavor and aroma of your beer.

[wellerjohn]

Temperature will never rise above 212 in and open pot.... it's pointless


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[hopfenundmalz]

Temperature will never rise above 212 in and open pot.... it's pointless


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It doesn't get much above 210F where I live. 

http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/boiling-points-water-altitude-d_1344.html

[ynotbrusum]

Thanks, Jeff, for the link to the charts.  At my altitude its 210 plus a little smidgeon, which ties very clearly to the charts.  If I set my boil controller to 212, it boils over for sure.

[a10t2]

Bear in mind that wort will boil about 1-2°C hotter than water depending on gravity.

[hopfenundmalz]

Bear in mind that wort will boil about 1-2°C hotter than water depending on gravity.

For lower gravity beers it is not much different for me. One day I checked ATM Pressure, it was low, and the 1.048 beer's gravity compensated for it, so it was about 210F + a little. I reported that here some years back.

[coolman26]

Yeah, I think a Thermopen is what I need for Father's Day this year.

Will never regret that purchase.


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[Backyard Bruise-master]

Certainly a lot of all-grain responses...

For an extract brew, how else are we supposed to know when to cut heat and steep?

From a manufacturing standpoint, would you want to manage 3 unique inventory items or 1?
The decision to tack on all the bulkheads so a kettle can be used as a HLT, MT or BK is an easy one; warehouse space is a lot more expensive than those few extra fittings...