Full boil extract brew?

I'll be moving over to all grain within the next year or so, so I'm going to slowly get the equipment. First on the list is a bigger brew pot. I guess I could end up eventually at 10 gallon batches, but for teh forseeable future, 5 gallons will be it. What size pot should I look into?

My question is I guess I can do full boil extract brews, but will this improve my beer? Even if I have a big enough brew pot to boil 5 gallons, should I do it?

Right now I brew in the kitchen on a gas stove. Can I get away without a burner and still boil 5 gallons?

Thanks

I think full boils will improve you beer more than anything else. I could boil the 6 gallons required to do a 5 gallon batch on my gas stove, but I set the pot across 2 burners to get a little more heat. I took a while to get the pot to a boil, but I could do it.

As far as pot size, don't get anything less than 8 gallons. Bigger is better.

I would go for a pot large enough to boil 10 gallons if you're planning on ending up there. The general rule is that equipment can still be used for one batch size down. I guess a 15 gallon pot would be the appropriate size for a 10 gallon boil.

You may be able to find a great deal on a burner which includes a 8 gallon pot for a minor amount more than a burner alone. In this case, you can wait on the 15 gallon pot. This is what I did.

I know I can get a turkey fryer and a 30 qt. pot, but those are all aluminum. I'm not a big fan of aluminum pots. I guess it would be ok for a short term thing, but I would definately want to go to a bigger SS pot. I do want to get out of the kitchen, so this might be the right way to go.

When I make the cooler MLT, I know I'm going to step up a bit in case I want to go to 10 gallon batches. I still bottle, so I won't go to bigger batches. The only thing I find a PITA is capping. I've used EZ-caps and growlers to minimize the pain. But I do a lot of camping, so kegs aren't in my near future. Party pigs or the other portable keg thing might work.

You should notice a difference in a full boil because you will be able to get the best of any hop additions, also full boil helps in kepping everything clean and that makes for better beer.

If you think you might go 10gal then get it now so as you only outlay the money once. might take bit longer to get all the gear but it will be worth it if you do step up.

S/S is always better

Just know that you MUST have a chiller if you're going that way.

Yep, that's one thing on my list of equipment to get. I think that will be on the father's day list.

You're going to need to have an oxygenation strategy. When you do full volume boils, you will be removing O2 from the water that your yeast will so deperately need for survival.

exactly what they said- the brew pot and wort chiller can be used now, and then used later when you go AG. A full boil does make a difference- it's closer to AG procedure and gives you better hops utilization.

God Emporer BillyBrew said:

Just know that you MUST have a chiller if you're going that way.

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are you referring to the 10 gallon size and needing a chiller........or, you need a chiller for full boils?

gator

For the full boils- it's tough to cool 5 gallons any other way!

gotcha

gator

gator said:

are you referring to the 10 gallon size and needing a chiller........or, you need a chiller for full boils?

gator

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Any full boils....you need to cool as quickly as possible and that is not possible without a chiller when you get into that much hot water.

How about the oxygenation comment? How do you folks handle aeration? Is the air pump with an air stone adequate?

I use this

Ten bucks and aeration complete. Also makes transferring from kettle to carboy super easy. A lot of people use a funnel with screen to aerate and then shake the crap out of it, too.

Don't forget, add most of your extract in the last 15min of the boil!
Everybody's doing it!
Late extract addition

fritz_monroe said:

How about the oxygenation comment? How do you folks handle aeration? Is the air pump with an air stone adequate?

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It really depends on what kind of yeast you like to use and whether or not you brew a lot of big beers (OGs of 1.060+)

Big beers + liquid yeast using a "splashing" type of aeration is going to be a really puny ferment. You really need an O2 system.

On the opposite end, dry yeast or starter pitching + small beers will ferment with a really small amount of dissolved O2 which you can get by splashing and shaking.

You'll get a lot o people claiming things work out fine using all kinds of methods which puts this into the catagory of anecdotal but here's what most people agree on with yeast and aeration:

1. Bigger beers require higher numbers of healthy viable yeast in order to hit "expected" attenuations.

2. The more viable cells you pitch, the less O2 needs to be dissolved in the wort. This makes sense in that an O2 rich environment encourages reproduction. If you have enough cells to begin with, they only need SOME O2 to store energy for the ferment.

3. Dry yeasts can be pitched into most beers with moderate O2 saturation while liquids (without making a starter) need a bit more O2.

etc. etc. Bottom line, if you like liquid yeast, I'd suggest making starters or injecting pure O2 (or inject pure O2 into your starter).

Ive heard that with full boils you dont want to use as much bittering hops due to the higher utilization. Most people Ive talked to about it say to decrease your bitterings by about 20%. Anybody have any experience with this?