Separate pots for DME and hops?

I've been doing lots of reading on how to best improve my extract brews, and I've seen lots of discussion on doing full boils, hop utilization, and doing late-additions of extract. Then I had the thought of separating my hop boil and DME boil, and simply combining them in the fermenter before pitching. For instance:

I have two SS stockpots; one 5-gallon and one 3-gallon. I would start with 3.5 gallons in the 5-gallon pot, which I would bring to a boil and then start my hop additions, with no DME added. Meanwhile I would bring 2 gallons to a boil in the 3-gallon pot and steep my grains at ~150F, then bring to a boil and add my DME until fully dissolved. Once my hops are done boiling I would cool both in an ice bath then pour together into my fermenter, pitch my yeast, then shake like crazy to mix/aerate.

Would this work, or am I not understanding something about what's happening during the boil?

You need sugars for hop utilisation. It would be better to split the amounts evenly between the pots. There might be a magic number that would allow you to put all the hops into one pot with a little bit of the extract and then the majority of the extract in the separate pot.

Two pots for a five gallon batch seems a little too cute for me. I wouldn't have the patience to deal with the extra hassle.

itsme6582 said:

You need sugars for hop utilisation. It would be better to split the amounts evenly between the pots. There might be a magic number that would allow you to put all the hops into one pot with a little bit of the extract and then the majority of the extract in the separate pot.

Two pots for a five gallon batch seems a little too cute for me. I wouldn't have the patience to deal with the extra hassle.

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I completely agree that 2 pots may be overkill for a 5-gallon batch, but I don't have the space/means to do full boils or go all-grain, and wouldn't mind a little extra work if it mean better brews.

Thanks for pointing out that sugar is needed for hop utilization, I'll look into that some more.

Instead of boiling wort in one pot and hops in another, you could just split the boil into both pots: wort and hops in both pots

this probably won't help your situation any, but this is what i did on my most recent batch. i just recently got a 7.5 gallon pot and now have two brewpots also (the 7.5 and a 5 gallon).

also, like you, i have limited choice on my brewing options. i brew on my elec. stove. two batches ago, i got the 7.5 gallon pot so i could attempt full boils. the electric burner struggled to get anything more than a rolling boil.

the last time i brewed, i used both pots. i steeped my grains in 3 gallons of 155* water while boiling 2 gallons in the other pot. once steeped, i added my extract to the 3 gallons, stirred it up well, added the 2 (now boiling temp) gallons, stirred, added hops and boiled for an hour.

doing it this way allowed for a little more vigorous a boil. i haven't been able to taste either batch yet as they both are still in carboys. of course, with a 5 gallon pot, i wouldn't recommend doing this, but maybe on a smaller scale? or if you could get a larger brewpot you could try it?