When doing full 5 gallon boil do I steep grains in full amount of water

I want to move up to full 5 gallon extract boils. My question do I steep my grain in the full amount of water which actually will be 6 gallons to allow for boil off? Or do I steep in smaller amount then ready for boil add warter to kettle to bring up to 6 gallon amount then start my boil?

Either way will work. I steep as I start heating the water, bring it to 160F and hold there for 20 min. then move on to the boil. The 5 gal extract batches I've done finish with 3-4 gal. post-boil. Then I just top off with water to bring it to the 5 gal. mark before pitching the yeast. Getting the full 5 gal to boil will just take a little longer.

So it's ok to steep in the full 6 gallons

actually it is better, it rinses the sugars easier

I'm looking to do this as well, move to a full boil and have a different but somewhat related question. All the recipe kits are design for a 3-4 gallon boil.

If I start boiling 6 gallons, do I need to adjust the quantity of hops?

Since you aren't actually mashing, it doesn't matter. You are just basically making a grain tea, for flavor and color. Water ratio is really only a factor when you are mashing, converting sugars.

tssgery said:

I'm looking to do this as well, move to a full boil and have a different but somewhat related question. All the recipe kits are design for a 3-4 gallon boil.

If I start boiling 6 gallons, do I need to adjust the quantity of hops?

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It depends on your final volume. If you are going from 3 gallon recipe to a 6 gallon final volume you will want to double everything, hops included.

If you are just boiling 6 gallon anticipating 50% boil off then you should be fine. 2-3 gallons of boil off in 6 gallons seems a little high. I would expect more like 1 gallon tops. Unless you are using a full raging boil, which is unnecessary especially for an extract batch.

tssgery said:

I'm looking to do this as well, move to a full boil and have a different but somewhat related question. All the recipe kits are design for a 3-4 gallon boil.

If I start boiling 6 gallons, do I need to adjust the quantity of hops?

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With extract you don't need to change the hop amounts or schedules, since they are designed for the amount of extract being used, rather than the amount of water. If you are doing all grain and converting from an extract, then you would use a lesser amount of hops for bittering.

TheHogue said:

It depends on your final volume. If you are going from 3 gallon recipe to a 6 gallon final volume you will want to double everything, hops included.

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This is incorrect.

Hop amounts and schedules for an extract batch are based on the amount of extract, not the volume of water. This is why all grain brewers that convert an extract batch use less hops for bittering.

CA_Mouse said:

With extract you don't need to change the hop amounts or schedules, since they are designed for the amount of extract being used, rather than the amount of water. If you are doing all grain and converting from an extract, then you would use a lesser amount of hops for bittering.

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Precisely the information I was looking for. Hope I didn't thread-jack.

CA_Mouse said:

This is incorrect.

Hop amounts and schedules for an extract batch are based on the amount of extract, not the volume of water. This is why all grain brewers that convert an extract batch use less hops for bittering.

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I thought he was saying it was designed as a 3 gallon batch not boil and he was going to stretch it to 5.
Hop usage is based on gravity. I have never heard of AG vs. Extract affecting hop requirement unless you're boiling longer.

It may have been mentioned earlier, but keep in mind the volume of water you may need to use to wash any extract from the cans or bags that they come in, not to mention the displacement of volume for the LME itself. If you start with a full 5-6 gallon boil, w/o being careful you could end up with way too much than what you need by the time you sparge your steeping grains and add in the LME.

I don't know if it's the best way or not - as I'm still pretty new myself, but the few that I've done, I've steeped in 4 gallons or so and boiled till it's time to add the extract, then I'm able to flush the containers out and top off as needed w/o worrying about adding too much volume just to have to boil off later.

Admitting, I've only done 3 full boils so far, but they seem to have went well using that process.

CA_Mouse said:

With extract you don't need to change the hop amounts or schedules, since they are designed for the amount of extract being used, rather than the amount of water. If you are doing all grain and converting from an extract, then you would use a lesser amount of hops for bittering.

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That doesent make sense. Extract or all grain (full boil in both cases) you are boiling the same amount of sugars in the same amount of water. Hops should be the same.