Help with first FULL boil.

robertvrabel · 02-09-2010, 10:26 PM

I purchased a British Bitter kit from NB a few weeks ago, and I'm looking to convert this to a full boil recipe, since I now have a 10g pot + a bayou burner... so I'd like to test it out this weekend!

Now I've heard you need to adjust your hops if the recipe calls for not a full boil. I plugged the recipe into BeerAlchemy (for Mac) with the called volumes of starting at 2.5gal. Then I switched it to start with 6.5g (since I heard this is a good starting amount because of boil off) and it did subtract the hops by .22oz, but it INCREASED the fermentables that I'm supposed to add.

Now since this is a kit, I obviously can't add more fermentables since I don't have more of those types. So is this correct? Or do I just follow the instructions the same way and not worry about it?

EDIT: Figured it out, thanks everyone

gtpro · 02-09-2010, 10:30 PM

I'm not very beer software savvy, but I dont see why it would call for more fermentables, make sure youre changing your pre-boil volume and not your post boil volume, if it thinks youre making a 6.5 gallon batch it would tell you to add more fermentables to keep your target OG.

gregblatz · 02-09-2010, 10:38 PM

I would suggest going to the nb website and referring to the all-grain instruction sheet. This will give you a good idea of you water volumes and also your hop adjustments. I know that you will get better hop utilization with a larger volume, but you will probably find out that the nb site calls for the same hop schedule for the extract/partial/all-grain recipes, so I wouldn't sweat it too much unless you are really working on a hop-forward brew.

Fermentables should stay the same.

Simple rule of thumb for me is that if I am making a 5gal batch, start with a pre-boil of just over 6gal and keep the lid off. You will be left with around 5gal. If you want to get precise, go with some brew software like promash or beersmith. I use beersmith and it has shown to be very precise and accurate with volumes and scaling.

Love the brittish bitter recipe they have. I have made it a few times. The WLP005 really works well with that one. Good luck!

robertvrabel · 02-09-2010, 10:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gtpro

I'm not very beer software savvy, but I dont see why it would call for more fermentables, make sure youre changing your pre-boil volume and not your post boil volume, if it thinks youre making a 6.5 gallon batch it would tell you to add more fermentables to keep your target OG.

You were kinda right, I changed around the numbers of the full boil one, it thought it ended with more wort even though the final was 5g, so I made sure it was 5.0g across everything and it didn't change the fermentables.

So it just ends up that I need only .11oz LESS for bittering and .11oz less for the hops near the end of the boil.

robertvrabel · 02-09-2010, 10:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gregblatz

I would suggest going to the nb website and referring to the all-grain instruction sheet. This will give you a good idea of you water volumes and also your hop adjustments. I know that you will get better hop utilization with a larger volume, but you will probably find out that the nb site calls for the same hop schedule for the extract/partial/all-grain recipes, so I wouldn't sweat it too much unless you are really working on a hop-forward brew.

Fermentables should stay the same.

Simple rule of thumb for me is that if I am making a 5gal batch, start with a pre-boil of just over 6gal and keep the lid off. You will be left with around 5gal. If you want to get precise, go with some brew software like promash or beersmith. I use beersmith and it has shown to be very precise and accurate with volumes and scaling.

Love the brittish bitter recipe they have. I have made it a few times. The WLP005 really works well with that one. Good luck!

Thanks, that makes sense. I did check out the all grain recipe, and you are correct... it is the same. So I'll probably just follow it because its only a total of ~.25oz hops.. not that much.