Boil wort in one and a half pot

Pascua · 12-12-2009, 01:48 PM

Hi!
I'm going to start mi first all grain, and I have all the equipment: A big mash tun, a big vessel for the first fermentation and also for the second. but my brew pot is a little bit small (4.5 US Gal).
I was thinking about to boil in the 4.5 gal pot the most of the wort, with the hops, and at the end of the process, 10 minutes before, start a simultaneous boil in an ordinary pot with another 1.5 gal of wort in order to sanitize and mix all together in the fermenter.
What do you think about that? will I have problems because of this process? will be worth the work and possible risk for 1.5 gal more, or to the contrary, a biggest fermentation is more stable?

Thanks in advance!

**TXCurtis** · 12-12-2009, 01:55 PM

With all grain part of the point of the hour long boil is driving off DMS. You'll want to boil all of the wort for an hour, even if you end up doing it in two containers. If you can boil in two containers its not an ideal situation but it can work.

A 3.5 gallon boil in a 4.5 gallon pot will be tight but can be done if you're hovering over it and ready to stop boil overs the whole time.

**MultumInParvo** · 12-12-2009, 01:56 PM

It'll 'work' for sure. Hop utilization will be down a little though.

You may just want to add the water after you cool down at room temp. It'll help you cool it, and I am not sure you gain anything from bringing it to a boil on its own.

You could also split it entire, add half hops in each, then add later. Not sure if you have the pots for that though.

**Yooper** · 12-12-2009, 01:57 PM

I used to use two pots and split the boil when I first started. It works fine.

You will want to boil the wort for an hour, in both pots because you want to kill any bacteria from the grains, boil off DMS precursors, etc. You can probably go less than an hour on the second pot, but 10 minutes isn't enough.

You'll want to start with about 7 (US) gallons at the beginning, to allow for boil off. If you have two pots that could each start with about 3.5 gallons, you could split the boil and hops evenly and that would be ideal. If you don't have two pots that big, or two big enough burners to do both of the same size, you could do what you are suggesting. Your hops utilization will be slightly different, though.

OHIOSTEVE · 12-12-2009, 07:20 PM

I boiled in two seperate pots for my first AG brew...split everything accordingly then mixed it together in the fermentor..best beer I have made so far imo.