Largest boil in a 5 gallon pot without a boil over?

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brewinginct

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What is the largest amount of wort that you would recommend boiling in a 5 gallon pot? I'm brewing on a glass top stove so my biggest concern is boil over, I need to avoid that at all costs.

Is 3.5 gallons the most I can safely do without really risking boiling over or is that too much? The recipe I based my recipe off of said to use 4.5 gallons but I feel like that would almost guarantee a boil over.

Also, what difference in taste would there be between doing a 3.5 gallon boil vs. a 4.5 gallon boil? If it's the same difference then I might as well play it safe with a 3.5 gallon boil.
 
brewinginct said:
What is the largest amount of wort that you would recommend boiling in a 5 gallon pot? I'm brewing on a glass top stove so my biggest concern is boil over, I need to avoid that at all costs.

Is 3.5 gallons the most I can safely do without really risking boiling over or is that too much? The recipe I based my recipe off of said to use 4.5 gallons but I feel like that would almost guarantee a boil over.

Also, what difference in taste would there be between doing a 3.5 gallon boil vs. a 4.5 gallon boil? If it's the same difference then I might as well play it safe with a 3.5 gallon boil.
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I've seen 7 gallons of wort boil over in a 13 gallon kettle. It isn't really possible to avoid boil overs by reducing volume. Sure, it might make it easier to control, but in the end you just have to watch it.

As for the effects... less water means more potential caramelization. Also, hop utilization will change with volume and wort gravity.

All in all, I'd say stick with the 3.5 gallon boil. It is just safer for you at the time.
 
Try some Fermcap-S. If you use that you can get 4.5 gallons in there and still control the boil pretty well.

As to 3.5 vs 4.5 it can make a pretty big difference because it will change the amount of alpha acids you extract from the hops during the boil.

smaller boil volume -> higher gravity boil -> lower extraction -> lower bitterness
 
your recipe will make a big difference too. Hop additions will tend to give you a short term potential for boil over...... you could get more aggressive with a simple kolsch than say an ipa.

fermcap really works.... also a small fan blowing on the wort does wonders. with a big batch ipa, i will often use both.
 
Try doing a "dry" run with just water. (I know i said dry water) Odds are if you're on a flat glass top you may never reach a boil with almost 5 gallons of water and I would hate for your brew day to be ruined or take 2 hours to realize it will never reach boil.
 
I've done a 5 gallon boil in a 22qt pot (5 1/2 gal) with no boil over. However it does get pretty close if you are using any DME.
 

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