Stuck doing a partial boil or smaller batch...

I've been doing 3 gallon batches only since I live in a small apartment with a wimpy little gas stove. I have tried doing five gallons and it takes forever to get a very weak boil going. Anyway, my SO bought me a heat stick for my birthday :rockin: however it seems that USPS lost it The tracking number said it was failed to be delivered to my door and was at the post office. When I went to the post office, they claimed it was delivered to me. I have no idea where it is, and I'm still trying to work that out...

Since I was relying on the heat stick to be here this week, I had bought ingredients for a five gallon batch. Unfortunately the grains have already been crushed, and I probably won't have the heat stick anytime soon.

Should I do a partial boil with 3 gallons and dilute to 5?
Scale down the recipe to 3 gallons and have leftover grain?

While I don't want to waste grain, I also don't want to risk infection from a partial boil. Any advice?

h-bar said:

While I don't want to waste grain, I also don't want to risk infection from a partial boil. Any advice?

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Make two batches, each with half the grain, totally 2.5 gallons and combine for fermentation?

Or, you could just store the grains. They will be ok for several months if kept dry.

h-bar said:

I also don't want to risk infection from a partial boil. Any advice?

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Risk infection? Very unlikely from tap water, especially if you add to your wort just after the boil. Heat from the boiling wort should pasteurize the added water.

One drawback of a partial boil is lower hop utilization. You may need to take this into account.

How big is the beer? I occasionally brew a 5 gal batch with top off on my 3 gal setup, but it's hard for me to get anything over 1.050 or so with the minimal sparge. If it's a smallish beer I'd go for it, otherwise just split it and save the grains for another batch. I'm also not sure what you mean about risking infection with partial boil - folks top off all the time with extract.

I top off all the time with partials, I boil about 2.5-3 gals. Only issue I've ever experienced has been mentioned, lower hop utilization.

Yooper said:

Make two batches, each with half the grain, totally 2.5 gallons and combine for fermentation?

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This seems like the best option, provided you have the time.

Thanks for the input everyone, I ended up doing two 2.5 gal batches. Guess it doesn't matter too much, still got my 5 gallons