Partial Boil and Full Boil question

I have done a few kits and did my first recipe last weekend. There recipe was for a full boil. The book said it was ok to do it as a partial boil if boil pot space was an issue and so that is what I did. It of course was quite thick when siphoning into the primary and so we added water along the way and then to get to my suggested OG reading.

My question is if I use a full boil recipe again should I adjust the recipe or just add water at the end like I did this last time? OR if I am going to do a full boil recipe do I really need a bigger pot? (I'm hoping this isn't the answer!)

As long as the kit is for a full 5 gallon batch then doing a full or partial boil is fine as long as ultimately you use 5 gallons of water in your primary is my understanding. You do not need to adjust anything. Full boil is going to give you a better end product as you have better hop utilization is what people have told me.

When doing a full boil you should be using at least a 7.5 or 8 gallon pot. Use 6 gallon of water in a full boil as 1 gallon will evaporate.

Someone correct me if I am wrong please.

According to the brewtarget software, when I compare my equipment to an ideal 5 gallon setup with full boil for the same recipe, my setup is sweeter (IBU's are lower), so to compensate, I can either add flavor hops earlier or add ME later in the boil.

when I asked the same as the original post this was one of the answers I got from Ctownbrewer:

"Most kits have you do 2.5 gallon boils, then top off the primary to 5 gallons total. If you were to do a full 5 gallon boil, you won't need to adjust your ingredients at all since the original recipe was for 5 gallons.

In my experience with the 4 extract brews I have under my belt, I've only done 5 gallon boils & had great results. The general concensus is that doing full boils as opposed to partial improves flavor & hop utilization...overall a much better final product. I've never done 2.5 gallon boils, so I couldn't give you any first hand comparisions.

Also, if you do a full boil, you'll need to boil around 6 gallons to compensate for around 1 gallon boil-off. I've done 5 gallon boils on my glass stovetop with the lid on to keep the boil going with fine results...however, if doing all-grain or PMs, you want to leave the lid off because the steam releases some nasties that can cause off-flavors...not as big a deal when using extract though, probably because the extract is made by going thru a boiling phase already."

I have a 6 gallon pot. I've done 2.5 gallon boils with the kits and that is what I did with this recipe. I certainly could have gone up to 4 gallons or so in this pot I think.

Are most extract recipes for a full boil? It seems the kits are partial. I'd rather brew from a recipe than a kit so maybe a bigger pot is something to consider.

you can always boil 4 gallons and top off the rest in primary. For a full boil people have told me to go with 8 gallon pots since you need 6 gallons of water (considering 1 gallon will boil away) plus your gains, then some room so it doesn't boil over.

Most extracts kits I have been looking into are partials but you can always full boil them for a better result. Thats what I am doing now with the Midwest Oatmeal Stout Kit

I only have a 3.5 gal ceramic stock pot so I was thinking of doing 2.5gal wort with half the ingredients, transfer to carboy and plug it, then do another 2.5gal wort with the other half of the ingredients and add it to complete the 5gal of wort I will need then go normal from there with yeast, etc.. Any thoughts on this? I heard it was referred as the "Texs Two Step" method.

I'm kind of kicking myself in the arse because I just started brewing and I was told to use a 3gal stock pot for the boil, but now after reading I should have just bought the 5gal one. Now I will probably wind up going out and spending another $30-$40 for a stock pot and I'll have this other one just sitting around after one or two uses. Dang!

310brew said:

I only have a 3.5 gal ceramic stock pot so I was thinking of doing 2.5gal wort with half the ingredients, transfer to carboy and plug it, then do another 2.5gal wort with the other half of the ingredients and add it to complete the 5gal of wort I will need then go normal from there with yeast, etc.. Any thoughts on this? I heard it was referred as the "Texs Two Step" method.

I'm kind of kicking myself in the arse because I just started brewing and I was told to use a 3gal stock pot for the boil, but now after reading I should have just bought the 5gal one. Now I will probably wind up going out and spending another $30-$40 for a stock pot and I'll have this other one just sitting around after one or two uses. Dang!

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I wouldnt worry about the "Texas Two Step" method, sounds like a lot of wasted time to me. Just do your partial boil and top up with cooling water. There is not a HUGE difference between partial and full boils as long as you get the hops utilization correct. Its certainly not worth spending another 1-2 hours of your brewday boiling the other half, at least not to me.

If you decide to get a bigger pot, go with a 7.5 or larger pot. Or look into keggles.

310brew said:

I'm kind of kicking myself in the arse because I just started brewing and I was told to use a 3gal stock pot for the boil, but now after reading I should have just bought the 5gal one. Now I will probably wind up going out and spending another $30-$40 for a stock pot and I'll have this other one just sitting around after one or two uses. Dang!

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Don't plan on doing a full boil with only a 5 gal pot. You want at least an 8 gal pot for doing a full boil. You always want to make sure you have enough room to prevent boil overs.

Thanks for thoughts everyone

#1 - You can get by with a marginal boil kettle volume by using Fermcap. It's dirt cheap, and I would highly recommend it. Lots of people use it.

#2 - Full or partial boil volume, your hops are a major, (or the major) consideration here. I'm not going to try to restate the invention of the wheel, but sugar concentration of your wort has a major effect on bittering and balance, hops-wise. You need to read up on wort gravity (sugar) levels and how they affect hops.

If you just do a partial boil and wait to add your *ME until the end of the boil, won't the hop utilization issue essentially even out in the end? Seems to me that is the simplest way of doing it - boil your hops in 2.5 gal over 60 mins, turn off heat and add *ME until dissolved, pour in your chilled water to get to 5 gal, ?????, profit!

kpr121 said:

I wouldnt worry about the "Texas Two Step" method, sounds like a lot of wasted time to me. Just do your partial boil and top up with cooling water. There is not a HUGE difference between partial and full boils as long as you get the hops utilization correct. Its certainly not worth spending another 1-2 hours of your brewday boiling the other half, at least not to me.

If you decide to get a bigger pot, go with a 7.5 or larger pot. Or look into keggles.

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Thanks guys I will go with a 7gal or 8gal stock pot in the near future. I will do a few more partial boils with this 3.5gal pot. Not going to attempt the TTS method either.

Cheers,
Russ

To put it simply:

1) Boil as much as you can in the pot that you have
2) Top up to 5 gallons in the fermenter

When you do get a new kettle, do a lot of research and buy AT LEAST an 8 gallon pot, 10 gallons is better.