Boil Volume Importance?

I'm new to brewing (2 batches, neither bottled yet). I'm planning on brewing again this weekend and bottling batch number one.

Could someone please explain what difference boil volume makes? I'm doing extract with specialty grains. The initial volume I've used is 2 gallons for a 5 gallon batch. I'm using the Brewer's Handbook for recipes for now but was looking to brew BierMuncher's Pale Ale. What are the advantages/disadvantages to using a greater initial volume if any? I'm asking because using a simple recipe program, the IBU's change from 11 to 35 for a give recipe when using a 2 gallon initial boil vs. a 5 gallon full boil. I don't want to screw up.

Thank you in advance for the help.

Jamie

So in general, bigger boils are preferred to smaller ones. This is for two main reasons 1) You get better hop utilzation with larger volumes (can save some cash/hops) and 2) you get better mixing of the wort in the boil than you do by adding top up water.

My advice is always to boil as much as you stove/pot can handle

Without getting too technical, one of the advantages of a full boil is better hop utilization. If you look at the bottom of this page you will see a link of similar threads. Here is the link to one that might be useful.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f13/hop-utilization-there-minimum-boil-volume-23308/

this link answers your question.

Thanks for the help. I did search (I alwyas search first, however, not always effectively I guess) but was not coming up with anything. I've since found the sticky addressing the issue. Now I'm interested in how to adjust the hop volume for a particular boil volume as that seems to be the issue. If I go from a 2 gallon boil to a 3 gallon boil how do I adjust the hops to get to the same IBU from the recipe? I'm going to continue looking in the sticky, but maybe some could shed some light on this. Thanks again.

Jamie

TastyBrew.com | Calculators | Bitterness Calculator

Try this calculator.

The best way I found was to spend the 20 dollars or so on Beersmith. There is a couple of other good programs out there also. I think a lot of people use Promash too. You can customize your entire recipe and brew day according to your equipment and capabilities. Playing around with the recipe in the program also helps you to understand how changing one thing effects the rest of the recipe. Just be careful. Before you know it you will be scrounging the internet for used kegs and how to sections for DIY brew projects. Free space in the garage will disappear quickly!

Thank you all for help and support. No worries from me. The internet is a strange place with all kinds. I'm all set and will be brewing the Kona Pale Ale reicpe or something very close to it this weekend. If I stick with this, as I would guess I would (who doesn't like ample quantities of quality beer cheap money), I'm sure I'll become a supporting member. Thanks again.

Jamie

Forbein11 said:

Thank you all for help and support. No worries from me. The internet is a strange place with all kinds. I'm all set and will be brewing the Kona Pale Ale reicpe or something very close to it this weekend. If I stick with this, as I would guess I would (who doesn't like ample quantities of quality beer cheap money), I'm sure I'll become a supporting member. Thanks again.

Jamie

Click to expand...

Let us know how it turns out and don't be a stranger.

Hi Jamie,

Sorry that your thread saw some snarkiness from some HBT members. There are some rather complicated scientific explanations explaining the why of a larger boil volume- but on a most basic level, it really has to do with density of the wort. The less concentrated a wort is, the easier it is to extract bitterness from the hops. If you do a side-by-side comparison of a full volume boil and partial boil of the same recipe, the partial boil will call for more hops of a given AA to achieve the same amount of bitterness compared to that of a full-volume boil.

Stick around!
Jason