Too much wort, what to do?

Hello, first time brewing, APA in progress now. I read in multiple places to start the boil with 6 gallons and it would boil down to 5. Well mine isn't boiling down enough. I'm almost done my 60 minute boil and probably have 5.8 gallons still in the kettle.

Can I boil longer or do I just add 5 gallons to the fermenter and call it a learning experience?

Sorry I don't have time to search. I appreciate the help!

I took a minute and searched, sorry was panicking. Seems I can just let it boil longer, I didn't put my aroma hops in yet so hopefully no big deal.

It depends on your gravity. If you gravity at your current volume is what you are looking for then it will be fine. It should be low, but if it is within the range you are looking for just rack 5 into a fermenter and then move on.

If you have only lost .2 gallons in an hour, I would assume you are not boiling hard enough.

If you boil longer you will really throw off your hop utilization which I assume was calculated for the one hour boil.

Boiling longer is fine. It will throw off your hop utilization, but I assume you want it hoppier.

Yes, I was afraid of boiling too hard but it was "gently rolling" in my opinion. Now it's rolling vigorously but I'm almost 25 minutes over my hour. More hops is always good

Forgot to mention, after about a 90 minute boil I had about 5.6 gallons still in the kettle. After cooling, removing my chiller and draining the good part into my fermenter I had just a couple hairs over 5 gallon. So it worked out damn near perfect. I did get just a touch of trub drained when I tilted my pot a bit too much (pot has a drain valve). Overall very happy with how everything turned out, now I wait.

Warmart said:

too much wort

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I recognize the words as English, but the order they are in make no sense

if you add yeast, it becomes "too much beer"

and that, my brewing brother, is not possible

good luck with this and all future brewing! welcome to the obsession!

Hahaha, yes, what was I thinking?? I was a little nervy last night, as much as is possible with me (not really that bad). It's like someone saying "it's too hoppy". Ha!

Warmart said:

Hahaha, yes, what was I thinking?? I was a little nervy last night, as much as is possible with me (not really that bad). It's like someone saying "it's too hoppy". Ha!

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now you see why "relax, don't worry, have a homebrew" isn't just a slogan for us, it's a guiding principle

Another option if you do end up with extra wort in the future (that won't fit into your fermenter for example) is to save it for future starters.

I have some in the freezer, so I can defrost it, give it a quick boil, cool and pitch some yeast.

BGBC said:

Another option if you do end up with extra wort in the future (that won't fit into your fermenter for example) is to save it for future starters.

I have some in the freezer, so I can defrost it, give it a quick boil, cool and pitch some yeast.

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this is good too.

or save it for krausening

Thanks guys, keeping it really simple for awhile. My APA kit did have a bag of grain I had to steep, which I didn't realize until I got home, but it was super easy. Fermentation seems to be going now, a big bubble every 5 seconds.

I'm getting thirsty