Pros/Cons of a full boil?

Hi -- I've recently started doing a full boil, but I'm not convinced of its merits.

(1) my stove can't bring 5 gal. to a boil, so I've got to brew outside & its COLD
(2) a full boil depletes the dissolved O2 in the water, and I don't have an oxygenation setup. I don't know if shaking the carboy is enough to oxygenate the wort
(3) My 6+ gal brewpot is so cheap that you can dent it with your thumb

So, what the real benefit of doing a full boil? Is it just to sterilize all the water?

www.howtobrew.com

Are you AG or extract brewing.
All of the basic brewing literature explains the merits and reasons for a full boil.
If you want fuller answers that are relevant to you then you need to explain your methods of brewing.

extract brewing.

5-gal batches, mostly store-bought kids (Brewer's Best, etc.), with an initial grain steep, pelleted hops.

I have a decent filter for my tap water, so the chlorine & other nasties should be minimized.

I like to summarize full boils with extracts it like this:

Pros:
-More IBUs for a given amount of hops (marginally cheaper). (even though you can acheive the same thing in a partial boil by doing a late extract addition instead of boiling it from the beginning)
-One step closer to the all grain process.

Cons:
-Need a 7.5gallon pot or larger
-Need a chiller

With that said, I've been full boiling extracts for the last 5 batches just so that my transition to all grain does not feel like a clusterf$#@. As far as I'm concerned, my boil process is exactly the same as an AG batch.

Thanks for the response.

In my opinion onw of the biggest problems with a concentrated boil is that boiling concentrated wort will increase kettle cramelization. And with the exception of scottish ales this is a definate flaw.

Add that to the IBU issue and getting one step closer to all-grain and full wort boils are the first upgrade I would recommend to anybody.

With AG, you have to do full boils. Under your conditions, I would not bother. I've done a number of mini-mash 2.5 gallon boils with good results. For extract with specialty grains, boil with half of the extract and do a late addition of the rest.

2) Shaking will do a fairly good job. Search for the definitive aeration experiment.

dannypo said:

In my opinion onw of the biggest problems with a concentrated boil is that boiling concentrated wort will increase kettle cramelization. And with the exception of scottish ales this is a definate flaw.

Add that to the IBU issue and getting one step closer to all-grain and full wort boils are the first upgrade I would recommend to anybody.

Click to expand...

This is only true if you boil all the malt in a low amount of water. I did this for years, but not any more.

As a person who is a real experimenter (of sorts) I have come to boil only 1.5 gals and 1 lb of malt and bittering hops for 45 mins then adding the remaining malts and continue the boil another 15 mins.

I've even taken this further in my last experiment and doubled my bittering hops and reduced my boil to 1/2 hour then adding the remaining malts BUT not boiling another 15 mins, just steeping to pasteurize.

I sampled that weizen today. Although it is a tad bitter I am pleased with it. It is still gurgling so I'll leave it in the primary a couple more days.

homebrewer_99 said:

I have come to boil only 1.5 gals and 1 lb of malt and bittering hops for 45 mins then adding the remaining malts and continue the boil another 15 mins.

Click to expand...

Just goes to show ya, there is more than one way to brew beer...