Full boil or 3 gallon

I recently got a 8 gallon Polarware SS pot off of CL, so now i can do full boils. I am brewing a Newcastle clone from MHS, extract with specialty grains.

Should I go with ~6 gallon boil, instead of the 3 gallon that the kit calls for. The main thing I am concerned about is cooling the wort, I am planning on doing a ice bath in the tub. Around 10 lbs of ice should do it?

I was thinking about freezing some boiled water and putting that in the wort. I was reading in "How to Brew," that oxidation of the wort can occur when oxygen is introduced at temps over 80 degrees. This can cause a cardboard taste, how typical is this? Have you ever dumped cold water or ice in without regard for oxidation, what happened?

This is my 3rd brew so far and I am not looking back.

PS Sorry if my grammar and spelling is horrible, my brain is fried. Two tests in three days both worth 50% is killing me.

do the full boil if you can but be warned, if youre using a stove, 5+ gallons is pretty tough to get to a boil. Chilling it is also difficult, a bath of salt, ice and water will do it though.

The cardboard taste youre describing is due to something called hot-side aeration, but the general consensus is that it is not an issue.

Do the full wort boil. It might take more ice in the ice bath but ice is cheap. In How to Brew John was probably writing about hot side aeration. It is not a common problem that brewers have so I wouldn't worry about it....

I don't know about diluting the wort with ice... and I don't know for sure if a bathtub full of ice will do it but if you lived here 24+ inches of snow might. Seriously, now that you have a nice kettle get or make a nice immersion chiller. Should be under $75 and then do full boils.

Changing an extract kit made for partial boils to full boils requires you to do some hop calculations. You would use slightly less hops because more water increases the hops utilization. There are IBU calculators online but I would highly recommend Beersmith for under 20 bucks if you don't already own it. Sounds like you will be brewing for a while to come so it's not like you won't use the stuff.

Sorry about the tests, hope you rocked em'.

:rockin:

One thing that I've been experimenting with is adding a container full of ice into the wort (not the ice itself). I filled up a quart ziplock full of water, froze it, and then tossed it into the wort. Of course, I sanitized it before tossing it into the wort. There is always a risk with a ziplock that it opens, so a small 16 oz. pop or water bottle would probably work better.

I've only tried this method once. It cooled down much faster than before.

I would love to get a wort chiller, but I am living in an apartment and i do not think the sink faucet can hook up to a chiller. That is a good point about the hop calculation since the larger volume will allow better hop utilization, should I adjust the amount or not worry about it?

Do you have a double sink? Put the wort in one side, fill with cool water, leave the cool water running a trickle. It will overflow into the second sink. Heat rises, wort cools (stir it with a sanitized spoon every few minutes. I could cool 5 gallons in 30 minutes this way.

Tub works too... there is that over flow. Just do not let the trickle of water trickle into your wort.

That'd be bad beer harry.

regardless, full boil. you will not regret.

Heck, you can even put a lid on the pot when you are done boiling and let it cool for 24 hours. It would still make beer! (hop utilization would increase... search no chill)

Please do not forget to cut back on the bittering Hops. In a full boil the wort can get a little bitter depending on the style and your taste.
sims_l22

brehuh said:

I would love to get a wort chiller, but I am living in an apartment and i do not think the sink faucet can hook up to a chiller.

Click to expand...

They make a sink fitting, I use it all the time on my kitchen and bathroom sinks. I brew in my garage and when it is as cold as it has been here under 20F for weeks, I have to snake a 50ft hose connected to the bathroom sink through the house and out the garage door to the wort chiller. Most brew supply stores online carry the fitting.

I have been looking at sink adapters, they all seem to need some form of threading. My sink as no way to screw in or over it (unless you can remove that screen on the inside). Oh man I heard Maryland got hit hard, I was down there for the last big one. My brother and sister live in Federal Hill. The roads are terrible since they have one plow and no where to put the snow! Stay warm!

All sinks are different, but you can remove the aerator from most sinks. You might have to get a wrench out. Look at Lowes or Home Depot for an adapter. Thats where I got mine. It allows me to attach a garden hose fitting to the sink. They are made for the dishwashers that aren't plumbed in. They work for garden hose attachemnts though.

Really (about your sink), that's too bad. Most sinks you can screw off the part that holds the screen (the aerorater or something like that) and this fitting they sell screws into that. My bathroom had a large rectangle spout and the water seemingly came out of the middle but when I inspected closely I could see that I could screw out the round thing and the fitting goes up in there nicely.

As far as snow, yeah, we are going to break an all time record this winter with over 55" ... and yeah, we have no where to put the #$%* either... just silly. Now on Tuesday we have another big one coming - ... when will it end? This morning or late last night a roof of a firehouse in VA collapsed due to snow load and we, MD and VA are both way over snow budget as far as sand, fuel and equipment.

Thanks for the kind thoughts, be well!

brehuh said:

I would love to get a wort chiller, but I am living in an apartment and i do not think the sink faucet can hook up to a chiller.

Click to expand...

I've never seen one that couldn't (other than those waterfall types). If its got an aerator, you can hook up a wort chiller.

I need a little more help. I am using beer smith and trying to figure out the hop adjustment. As per the directions:
SG: 1.052 - 1.056
FG: 1.010 - 1.012
IBU ~ 42

At 60min add 1 oz challenger pellet hops 6.3%AA
At 15min left add Irish Moss
At 10min add 1/2 oz Kent goldings 5.4%AA

Using a SG: 1.054, 6 gallon boil, and using Tinseth formula I only get a IBU of 27.9. Whats going on, shouldn't it be more bitter with the larger volume?

Sorry forgot to add that they gave me 1 oz of the kent golding hops, when it says only to use 1/2 oz.

brehuh said:

I need a little more help. I am using beer smith and trying to figure out the hop adjustment. As per the directions:
SG: 1.052 - 1.056
FG: 1.010 - 1.012
IBU ~ 42

At 60min add 1 oz challenger pellet hops 6.3%AA
At 15min left add Irish Moss
At 10min add 1/2 oz Kent goldings 5.4%AA

Using a SG: 1.054, 6 gallon boil, and using Tinseth formula I only get a IBU of 27.9. Whats going on, shouldn't it be more bitter with the larger volume?

Click to expand...

With only 1 ounce of 6.3% AAU hops at 60 minutes, an OG of 1.054 or so, it's simply not possible to get 42 IBUs. What was the rest of the recipe? They must have made an error.

I am not sure, its odd I thought brown ales, especially English, have a low hopping rate around 20-30 IBU.

I looked at Brew365 and they have a recipe for the clone with an IBU ~ 25. I think I am just going to cut the Midwest clone down to 25 IBU and see how that goes.

Get an immersion chiller. You won't regret it!

First AG batch in awhile (6 mos)...

Eveything great, until time to chill ... cannot find the bleeding faucet adapter (probably thrown out) so no using the immersion chiller (normally use long garden hose on outside faucet, but hose is coiled up in basement

Fermenter sitting in cold bath .. almost ready to pitch.

CFC seems the way to go ! NOT good with DIY, so can anyone recommend one ?