Full 5 gallon boil in a 28 quart kettle

I'm an extract brewer and, unfortunately, don't have much cash. Right now my boil kettle is 28 quarts. But I want to do full boils for the hop utilization but I'm pretty sure I'd boil over with that capacity.

I can afford either a chiller or larger pot but not both right now so I'm leaning towards a chiller. So my idea:

Use my boil kettle to steep my specialty malts, dissolve my extracts and hot break with, say, three gallons water. In a separate pot, boil 4 gallons or so and have ready (HLT). After my hot break I don't seem to have any risk of boilover, so I would turn off flame and add hot water to bring the wort up to my preboil volume - 6.5 gallons or so. Then, bring the kettle back to a boil, add hops and continue as normal.



Any holes in that plan?

You could do full volume from the very beginning if you just get some FermCap for foam control. Steep and boil starting with about 6 gallons in your 7 gallon pot, use some FermCap to prevent boilover, and if you're a little short after the boil (should be less than 1/2 gallon at the most), just top off with a little extra water after cooldown!!

http://www.midwestsupplies.com/fermcap-s-foam-inhibitor-1-oz.html

That sounds ideal. Never heard of Fermcap but it turns out my lhbs sells it. Thanks!

You could probably save on the chiller for now since the weather is turning.
It wont be long till you can stick that pot of wort in a snowbank for a few months while you save for a chiller.

Look how close I get to the top of the kettle using Fermcap.

JonM said:

Look how close I get to the top of the kettle using Fermcap.

Click to expand...

I get that close without using Fermcap. Probably should use it... but I just monitor my boil and don't let it get too crazy.

This is indoors, correct?

Your stove can boil 5+ gallons in 1 pot?

is boilover bad other than the mess? if it boils over a couple times, with a hose set on mist for general control, is that okay?

I'd think boil over would have a direct effect on either OG. Plus, it is pretty messy.

Unibrow said:

This is indoors, correct?

Your stove can boil 5+ gallons in 1 pot?

Click to expand...

Oops - guess I should have mentioned this was a half-batch and a 90-minute boil. So, with .85 gal/hour boiloff, this was about 3 3/4 gallons, pre-boil, and that's about the limit of my stovetop.

wolfman_48442 said:

You could probably save on the chiller for now since the weather is turning.
It wont be long till you can stick that pot of wort in a snowbank for a few months while you save for a chiller.

Click to expand...

Shhh... my wife might hear you. Then I'll NEVER get a chiller!