First brew - Hop head DIPA MW - Questions-

Hey, new to the forum and brewing but have most supplies to get started (MW basic starter kit, 5 gallon better bottle, 5 gallon kettle, ingredients for MW Hop head DIPA). I have a question, when the instructions say "Add a minimum 1.5 -2 gallons of tap water to your pot. If you have a larger pot and can boil a
larger volume do so." How much should I really add to a 5 gallon kettle? And any other pointers for the newb brewer? Thanks!

Welcome! Doing a larger boil can result in better tasting beer, BUT the two things I'll warn you about are:

1) Some stoves actually can't boil that much water or will take very long to get to boil
2) If you don't have chilling equipment, it can take a longer time to get to proper pitching temps.

Honestly I'd recommend keeping it simple at first, then try doing larger boils later. Good luck!

I'd do no more than 3 gallons - anymore and you will have some fun controlling boilovers. I got my first 5 gallon brewpot up to 4 gallons but I never was very able to get a good boil going giving the lack of space.

You can still make great beer with a small kettle, but larger boils in larger pots do generally make even better beers.

Cool, Thanks for the help... Might seem like some stupid questions but just gearing up for tomorrows boil. Thinking about 2.5 to 3 gallons but I know to use top up water as well but.. Hmmm. Using a gas burner stove that has a pretty big flame. No chilling equipment but will use the ice method to the extreme.

Definitely not stupid questions. I can tell you've done your research before you got started. I only started learning these things after I brewed a couple of batches.

Sounds like you'll be just fine. I initially failed to see that you are limited to a 5 gallon pot and I was thinking you were talking about doing full boils. Full boils for 5 gal definitely call for big burners and chilling equip. You could try a test boil to see how how quickly you can get 3 gallons to boil if you want. A generous ice bath is definitely capable of getting 3 gallons cooled within a reasonable time (under 20 min). You might want to take some measures to ensure that your top-off water is sanitized, like boiling it then chilling. But I admit I rarely did that when I used to top off and never had a problem.

If this is your first brew, a couple of other things worth pointing out. Get a water report and make sure you don't have chlorine or chloramines in the water. If you do, either get store-bought spring water or condition yours. Next, fermentation temps play a very big role in final quality- try to control them. Other than that, you just need patience! Good luck.

Yea I researched a bit before, watched that MW video a few times, and read up online a little. Everything went great yesterday, no boil overs and stuck to the directions. I started with 3 gallons of crystal Geyser spring water. No wort chiller yet so I used ice in my sink to cool.. after cooling I poured between my two buckets to aerate then the White labs yeast went in. First batch now in the primary, when should I transfer to the secondary & add dry hops? One week?

Sdtastentune said:

Yea I researched a bit before, watched that MW video a few times, and read up online a little. Everything went great yesterday, no boil overs and stuck to the directions. I started with 3 gallons of crystal Geyser spring water. No wort chiller yet so I used ice in my sink to cool.. after cooling I poured between my two buckets to aerate then the White labs yeast went in. First batch now in the primary, when should I transfer to the secondary & add dry hops? One week?

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I like adding dryhops about a week before bottling/kegging. Any longer, and you can get some "grassy" or vegetal flavors from sitting on the hops too long.

I'd wait until the gravity was stable (unchanging) for at least three days. I'd leave it in the fermenter (primary) at least two weeks, though. Then rack onto the dryhops, wait a week, then bottle.

Sdtastentune said:

. First batch now in the primary, when should I transfer to the secondary & add dry hops? One week?

Click to expand...

Racking to a secondary to dry hop is optional. If you want to keep it simplier, you can dry hop directly in the primary. Like Yoop said, give it at least 2 weeks first whichever way you go