Lando

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Total noob here.
About to give brewing a try and realized my largest pot is 3 gallon. I plan on getting a larger pot soon, but is OK to use a smaller pot and add additional water to chill the wort before adding the yeast?

woollybugger2

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yes, it's called a partial boil...

be careful, you won't be able to boil the full amount that the pot can hold. leave at least 2" for the foam from the hot break, stand by with a squirt bottle of water to control the foam...of use some foam control drops...

my first brews were in a 2.5 gallon pot...

good luck and welcome to the addiction of home brewing...

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phatuna

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Welcome Lando!
The only other thing that I would add is you might consider putting the other 2 or 3 gallons of water in the refridgerator so when you add that water to top off your primary, it is nice and cold. that will aid in your wort cool down and get you that much closer to the desired yeast pitching temperature. Cheers!

Lando

Recipes 

Thanks for the info. Also, it is a Belgian Ale that I am trying. The guy at the shop sold me some drops to keep the primary from getting out of control so I will keep those on hand for the wort as well.
Does the smaller amount of water in the steep change anything down the line? Flavor?

phatuna

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I haven't worked up to a full boil yet due to my pot being too small. the overwhelming majority here will tell you that your beer will taste much better etc. once you get to a full boil.
search "full boil" and you can read a lot of good chatter on that.

Grinder12000

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WOW - I've read many posts here but a few things I've never heard of.

Squirt bottle or foam control drops??? OR - just watch it and lift the pot off the burner for a few seconds.

Or a blow off tube which you WILL need - I'm brewing a Belgian Strong Pale Ale and yippee it was a gusher - Had to put the tube in. I would think you WANT it to go wild! I would not want to put anything in to control anything. The yeast know what they are doing - I would not play with their little minds at this point.

Buy a thick tube and insert it instead of an air lock for the first 4 days. Put the other end on sanitized water.

Full Boils rock!!

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Lando

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OK, so how do I rig a blow off tube to the bucket? Does it attatch to the blow of valve instead of the other two peices?