Brew pot one gallon too small

Through a strange turn of events, I have a 6 gallon brew pot and a recipe that calls for 6 gallons of water with 7 pounds of dry malt extract. Could I use 5 gallons of water instead and add the additional water when I pitch the yeast? Would it affect the final product?

Thanks.

You can add water to top off at the end without issue - just make sure it is clean - no contaminants that may cause off flavors or infection.

If the recipe is for a 5 gallon batch, the recipe is probably calling for a 6 gallon boil to adjust for the evaporation of water during the boil, losing maybe a 1/4 gallon to trub and sediment, and then ending up with 5 1/4 gallons in the fermenter. (Just an assumption.)

The more water you can boil the better, but if you do a 4 or 5 gallon boil, the final product really won't be affected. Partial boils of 2 gallons and the like are what would affect the final product.

Good luck

How about adding water later in the boil when you have room after some evaporation? Will that screw up the hop utilization?

The only problem I can see is you'll have to bring it back up to boil after adding the water, but then you could boil it for 15 minutes or so to make sure the bugs in there are dead.

No problem, although if you are using tap water, I'd boil it the night before. Boil two gallons, just in case.

Thanks to everyone who replied. I am all set to brew my first batch tomorrow.

IMO, for extract brewing, partial boils are the way to go. Do a three gallon boil, adding half your extract at the start. Follow the hop schedule as specified; add the rest of the extract at flameout. Then you take the remaining two or so gallons of water, which you have cleverly stored in your fridge, and use them to help chill the wort. It's win-win-win.

I was reading that in partial boils, the more water adds more hop taste to the final product and reducing water lessons the hop taste.

Would you simply use less hops for a full boil? Or am I just getting ahead of my talent level since I only have brewed 2 brewer best kits?

For a full boil what is the smallest brew pot you would use? I think that a 6 gallon pot would lead to a lot of boil overs.

frazier said:

IMO, for extract brewing, partial boils are the way to go. Do a three gallon boil, adding half your extract at the start. Follow the hop schedule as specified; add the rest of the extract at flameout. Then you take the remaining two or so gallons of water, which you have cleverly stored in your fridge, and use them to help chill the wort. It's win-win-win.

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If you follow the hop schedule for a 6-gallon Boil and only have 3 gallons of water, you beer is not going to end up as designed. You will have to adjust the hops for the partial boil.

A sample recipie in Brewsmith for a 5 gal batch with a 5.7 Gal Boil, has an IBU of 35.2, changing the equipment to a 4 gal pot, changes it to a 3.25 gal boil and drops the IBU to 25.2 if you use the same amount of hops and the same schedule

billf2112 said:

I was reading that in partial boils, the more water adds more hop taste to the final product and reducing water lessons the hop taste.

Would you simply use less hops for a full boil? Or am I just getting ahead of my talent level since I only have brewed 2 brewer best kits?

For a full boil what is the smallest brew pot you would use? I think that a 6 gallon pot would lead to a lot of boil overs.

Click to expand...

Yes you would use less hops. My first few extract batches, I had a bigger pot so did 4 gallon boils instead of the 2.5 the kit called for, without adjusting the hops and it made the beers a lot more bitter.

You may be fine if your doing an IPA, but the results for my Wit weren't that good.

A lot of people use a 7.5 gallon pot but you have to watch it closely and control your fire. Remember for a 5 gallon batch, you will have to add water for your evaporation rate, so you would be using a lot closer to 6 gallons of water for a full boil (so after an hour of boiling, you end up with your 5 gallons), so a 6 gallon pot would not be a wise choice.

When I first got my 15 gal and started using my outdoor cooker, I had the fire cranked way to high and had a boil over with only 6.8 gals in the kettle, so you always need to watch the fire

JeepDiver said:

If you follow the hop schedule for a 6-gallon Boil and only have 3 gallons of water, you beer is not going to end up as designed. You will have to adjust the hops for the partial boil.

A sample recipie in Brewsmith for a 5 gal batch with a 5.7 Gal Boil, has an IBU of 35.2, changing the equipment to a 4 gal pot, changes it to a 3.25 gal boil and drops the IBU to 25.2 if you use the same amount of hops and the same schedule

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This was why I said to add half the extract at the start, and half at the end. It's not the amount of water that affects the hop extraction, it's the gravity of the boil.. Half the water, half the extract, all the IBUs.