Full boil - extract kit

Howdy folks,

I am planning to do a full boil with my extract kit from NorthernBrewer.com. I have a few questions about the recipe. I understand that the hops will need to be adjusted for the larger boil? But I am not sure how to adjust the hops since I'm still a newb.

The kit recommends a 2.5 gallon boil for 60 minutes.

Recipe:

Kit Inventory:
Specialty Grain
-- 1 lbs Simpsons Roasted Barley
Fermentables
-- 6 lbs Gold Malt syrup
Hops & Flavor ings
-- 2 oz Cluster (60 min)
Yeast
-- Wyeast 1084 Ir ish Ale Yeast. Slight residual diacetyl
and fruitiness; great for stouts. Clean, smooth, soft and fullbodied.
Apparent attenuation: 71-75%. Flocculation: medium.
Optimum temp: 62°-72° F.

Here is a link to the kit that I purchased: http://www.northernbrewer.com/skin/...eme/images/media/beerkitpdf/DryIrishStout.pdf

I also wanted to post a video of my boil (This was just plain water boiling) since I am using my stove this was about the max that I could get (without putting a partial lid over the top of the pot). I checked the temperature of the boil and it was at 100C. I boiled 6 gallons and ended up with just a tiny bit under 5 gallons at the end. Does this sound about right given the next time I will be making wort? Any other tips anyone would like to provide? Thanks!

Some brewing software really helps- I use Beersmith. Here's what Beersmith says:

I assumed a 7.5% AAU on the hops. Yours will probably be different, but this will give you an idea.

For that recipe as written, you'd get 32.5 IBUs. With a 6 gallon boil to start, you'd get 55.4 IBUs! So, you'd want to use 1.25 ounces of hops. You can just stick the other .75 ounces in a ziploc bag in the freezer. If you have a Foodsaver, that's what I use to store my extra hops.

Thanks for the reply. So, according to the recipe I posted; I should be using 1.25 ounces of hops. I'll take a look at Beersmith, how easy is it to use?

Beersmith is very easy- I'm NOT computer savvy at all, and I can use Beersmith pretty well. They have a free trial.

+1 BeerSmith is GREAT!

Thanks for the replies. Downloading now...

Do I need to make any other adjustments to the recipe aside from hops?

EDIT btw.. The bags of hops say Cluster 1oz. 7.5% alpha. (two bags, one ounce each)

You shouldn't have to adjust for anything else, just pay attention to boil off. I start out with ~6.5 gals for a 5 gal batch.

If you do end up boiling off you can always top off later just like a normal extract.

+1 to beersmith. The trial does everything except save recipies. Of course, for $21 I bought it after one batch. In addition to keeping recipes it will adjust hydromters, track costs, inventory and scale recipies.

If you like hops you may find that the ibus are still within style. You could use them all.

This is good to know. I brewed an AHS American IPA the other day and did a 5.5 gallon boil. I just followed all their directions for the partial boil but did a full boil instead. Will my IPA be more or less hoppy?

Neurot said:

This is good to know. I brewed an AHS American IPA the other day and did a 5.5 gallon boil. I just followed all their directions for the partial boil but did a full boil instead. Will my IPA be more or less hoppy?

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It won't be more or less hoppy, but it'll be more bitter. A full boil increases hops utilization, giving you more "bang for your buck" with hops. You can use less hops and get the same bittering. As in the example above, he is able to use .75 ounce less bittering hops which is a decrease of 37.5%.

Is Beersmith a one time payment? Or is it monthly/yearly?

bennyd said:

Is Beersmith a one time payment? Or is it monthly/yearly?

Click to expand...

One time only. One of the best investments I've made for brewing.

Thank you for all of the replies. Now my next newb question... How do you guys measure the hops you are removing? By eye? Scale?

I hope to do a video on my first full boil. If I do, I'll post it up for other newbs like myself.

A kitchen scale is all I have at the moment, but I want to get a nice gram scale at some point.