Boil Volume Question

I just got an Irish Red Ale kit from morebeer and I had a question about boil size. Right now I am limited to about 2.5 gallon partial boils. All of the extract with this kit comes as 7 lbs. LME. The 7 lbs of LME take up about 1-1.5 gallons in volume. Does this mean I should begin the boil with about 1 gallon water until I get it rolling then add the 7 lbs LME to make the final boil volume 2.5 gallons? Is that correct or is the actual volume of liquid that the 7 lbs LME donates less after all the sugars are dissolved? Really appreciate this help, haha.

Joe

I think you should get a bigger pot.

Yes, heat a gallon of water, then remove it from the heat and add your LME. After stirring well and making sure that the extract is all disolved, add water (if necessary) to bring your volume to 2.5 gallons, and commence to boiling.

If you switched to DME you would not be adding 7 lbs of volume (the water in the LME) to your pot.

And like ELP said, getting a bigger pot always works too!

Yeah I know but this morebeer kit came with 7 lbs of LME. Whatever I'll just adjust the volume. Anyone here have any experience with morebeer kits? Irish Red Ale kit specifically? Thanks for the feedback.

RiversC174 said:

Yeah I know but this morebeer kit came with 7 lbs of LME. Whatever I'll just adjust the volume. Anyone here have any experience with morebeer kits? Irish Red Ale kit specifically? Thanks for the feedback.

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Like I said...heat a gallon of water, then add the LME and stir it in well. If you've got 2.5 gallons or more then start boiling, otherwise add water until you do have 2.5 gallons, then start your boil.

Above all, Relax, Don't Worry, Have a Brew.

RiversC174 said:

Yeah I know but this morebeer kit came with 7 lbs of LME. Whatever I'll just adjust the volume. Anyone here have any experience with morebeer kits? Irish Red Ale kit specifically? Thanks for the feedback.

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Your morebeer kit should be pretty good. The two main problem with kits is that they tend to include old LME in a can and dried yeast that may not be appropriate to the style.

Morebeer is a huge volume retailer, and my experience has been that their bulk LME, which I'm sure is what they use in their kits, is goodand very fresh. Also, I believe they sell their kits with WhiteLabs liquid yeast, right?

You'll be great with your 2.5 gallon boil.

Relax, Don't Worry...

Haha, ok good, thank you for reaffirming. Yeah it comes with WLP004 Irish Red Ale Yeast. I'm all set to make a starter and everything so it should go pretty smoothly. Glad to hear their LME will be relatively fresh. Thanks guys and this time I actually do have some homebrew to relax with, haha. Although not many, gotta start stockpiling, vanilla weizen is next to kick off beginning of summer :rockin: Cheers.

Joe