Doing a partial boil with A LOT of malt extract

Hey All -

I'm looking in to a recipe that Jamil presented on TBNs The Jamil Show. The recipe is from the podcast aired on 9/23/07 titled Winter Spiced Beer. I have collected the bill of ingredients, and it is as follows

- 14 lbs Maris Otter LME (substituted from the recommended English Pale Ale LME)
- 3/4 lb Crystal 80L
- 1/4 lb Black Patent Malt
- 1 oz. Horizon Hops (60 minute)
- Wyeast 1028 London Ale Yeast (2 packets with starter)
- Cinnamon ground ½ tsp
- Ginger ground ¼ tsp
- Nutmeg 1/8 tsp
- Allspice 1/8 tsp (all of the above spices added minutes before flameout)

As you can see, there is a lot of the Maris Otter LME, giving a calculated OG of 1.090! FG being 1.022, 45 IBUs, 19 SRM coloring, 9% ABV, etc etc.

As Jamil recommends in many of his recipes, he does a 6 gallon boil. What he means is that by the end of the boil you want 6 gallons. This way, you can leave behind .5 gallon in the kettle with all of your break material and other crud, and you can leave .5 gallon behind in your primary when you rack to the secondary. This method, he claims, leaves you with a very clear beer, and gives you the typical 5 gallons.

The issue I have with this method is that I don't have the means to do a full, 6 gallon, boil. I have a 5 gallon brew pot, and have been typically doing 3-4 gallon partial boils. Am I going to be able to dissolve 14 lbs of Maris Otter LME in to 3-4 gallons of water? Would I be wise to split the boil up in to two 3 gallon boils, or could I get away with a partial boil?

Thanks!

Just scale the recipe. Multiply all the quantities by 5/6.

Yes, you will be able to dissolve 14lbs of LME in 3 or 4 gallons, but that is going to give you a much higher OG than intended, and it will also reduce your hop utilization.

EDIT: It is possible that he has assumed a partial boil and already corrected for the hop utilization, but I kind of doubt it since I know he's a strong proponent of doing a full boil whenever possible.


What I would do in your case, if you really want the full 6 gallons, is to start with 3 or 4 gallons, whatever you normally do, and only use a smallish amount of LME for most of the boil. In fact now that I think about it, maybe just use half of the LME. Then in the last 15 minutes or so add the rest of the LME. That should help with the hop utilization, and also help with carmelization. Then do your normal transfer to the fermenter, leaving the ~0.5 gallons of trub and top off to 5.5 gallons.

It'll greatly increase my OG, but if I do top-off water up to 6 gallons (or 5 if I decide to scale the ingredients), that should, in theory, level out my OG, right? I am aware of the lower hop utilization, but that doesn't concern me. The profile of this beer calls for very little hop presence. During the 90 minute boil, maybe I'll do a full 90 minute hop boil as opposed to the recommended 60 minutes as recommended to help counter act the lowered utilization.

Get all the extract into solution. Just wing it. Check your OG against what FG your yeast usually gives you. If you're worried about hops, add more. Cant nobody never done have nough hops. Hope this helps.

weirdboy said:

What I would do in your case, if you really want the full 6 gallons, is to start with 3 or 4 gallons, whatever you normally do, and only use a smallish amount of LME for most of the boil. In fact now that I think about it, maybe just use half of the LME. Then in the last 15 minutes or so add the rest of the LME. That should help with the hop utilization, and also help with carmelization. Then do your normal transfer to the fermenter, leaving the ~0.5 gallons of trub and top off to 5.5 gallons.

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I agree - steep your grains and then start your boil with only half of the extract (and normal amount of water). When you have 10 minutes or so left in the boil, remove from heat and then add the rest. Finish the boil, cool and then top-up until the gravity is correct. Not only will you get better hops utilization but it should be lighter in color as well.

Don't add any extra water during the boil, you'll need a couple of quarts to boil off and make room in the pot for the late extract. I made that mistake the first time

ifishsum said:

I agree - steep your grains and then start your boil with only half of the extract (and normal amount of water). When you have 10 minutes or so left in the boil, remove from heat and then add the rest. Finish the boil, cool and then top-up until the gravity is correct. Not only will you get better hops utilization but it should be lighter in color as well.

Don't add any extra water during the boil, you'll need a couple of quarts to boil off and make room in the pot for the late extract. I made that mistake the first time

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This is really interesting advise. I have not heard of this practice, but I like the way it sounds. I think I'll give this a shot. I just ordered my ingredients, so hopefully I'll be brewing again this weekend. (It seems like I'm brewing every weekend now, I'm gonna have quite a pipeline going, I haven't even bottled my first batch!)

I'll second ifishsum's approach. In fact, you could delay the second extract add until the boil is done. Stir it in, wait 10 minutes and cool. There aren't any flavor or aroma adds, so the end-game isn't important.

+1 on the late extract addition. I do that with all my beers and design it into the recipe. Now that I'm doing PM's with enough grain that I only need a few lbs of LME, I add all the LME at 5 minutes before flameout. When I use mostly LME for my fermentables, I'd do half and half. It's actually an established technique if you search around for it. Many, many people do it.