First time brewer - Questions

Hello everyone. First time brewer here, and I'm planning to do my first brew with a friend of mine (also a noob) tomorrow using an LME. I have a couple of questions though.

1. The recipe calls for a 2.5 gallon boil for the wart, and top off to 5 gallons in the fermenter. Would it be problematic to boil my 2.5 gallons of 'topping' water and add it to my carboy first, and then follow with the wart? That way I could boil my topping water first, and boil my wart while it cools in the fermenter.

2. I currently have a 16 quart SS boiling pot. Will this be large enough? I tried filling it with the 2.5 gallons for the boil and just setting the LME bottles into the pot just to get a gage of the displacement. It seems OK (I've got about 2 inches left at the top of the pot), but I'm not sure what to expect with foaming and I'm worried about boil over. Should I try to get a bigger pot, or take my chances with this one?

I appreciate the advice. This seems like it's going to be a fun hobby. Especially the 'enjoying the fruits of our labor' part. Thanks!

I'm a noob as well but I think I can answer the first question.

It shouldn't be an issue adding the water to your carboy first. I've only done it this way, and so far, so good. The two are going to be together for a while anyways

As for the kettle...I use a 5 gallon pot for a 3 gallon boil and I've come to the top with the boil but removed it from the heat in time. The rest of the rolling boil went fine. Just be careful at the beginning. 2.5 gallons in a 4 gallon pot should be ok, though a little risky. I'd say: see how it goes!

Have fun! It's a blast

First it is wort not wart.

a 5 gallon pot would be better, but can be done with your 4 gallon. The LME will disolve into the water. Just be real watchful for boil overs. Keep a spray bottle of water on hand.

Pre boiling your top of water is not problem. I would do it in advance and put it in the fridge, the colder the better. I actual use ice made from boiled water to top off on partial boils. Tops off and cools the wort down quickly.

Thanks for the advice. My plan is to boil my topping water first and add it to the carboy, and let it cool slowly on it's own. Then, when I add the wort (spelled correctly this time), I'll move the carboy to an ice bath to cool the rest of the way. I wasn't sure if I'd lose volume in the boil though. I guess the volume of water lost durring boiling is compensated for by the addition of the LME. I just wanted to make sure that I wasn't missing something.

I agree with cold water, or ice if you are using a bucket, keep it a bit shy of your expected 5 gallons in case the boil did not evaporate as much as expected. You don't want to end up with too much water. Then top off with the rest of the water.

masterjw said:

Thanks for the advice. My plan is to boil my topping water first and add it to the carboy, and let it cool slowly on it's own. .

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BAD idea to add boiling hot water to any plastic, or glass, fermenter. Plastic will melt, glass will shatter. Both will result in boiling hot water all over your floor (at the very least)...

IF you're going to pre-boil your top-off water, cool it in a cold water bath (in your sink)... Use this same method for cooling your wort. You can do that with partial boils, until you've had enough and get a wort chiller.

You want to chill the wort as fast as possible. There are several reasons for this, not the least of which is to get a cold break and to prevent contamination of the batch (the longer it's too warm, the higher the chance). You can also pitch the yeast sooner.

To prevent boil-over you have a few options. The lowest tech method, is to simply use a pot with enough head-space. Since that might not be an option for you just yet, the next method is to have a spray bottle of water on hand. Simply spritz the foam with the water to get it to calm down. You can also try stirring the pot/wort to get it to calm down some. Another method is to use something called Fermcap-S in the batch (add it just before the boil starts). This breaks up the surface tension of the wort, allowing you to boil more in your pot without worrying about boil-over.

I have always boiled my top off water the night before and let it sit overnight, Covered to cool. Then in the morning, after I sanitze my carboy/bucket, add the top off water to the carboy. Your pot will be big enough as long as you keep a close eye on it. The hot break should be your only "close call" and that usually occurs in the first 5 or 10 minutes. After that it should be smooth sailing.

Yes, be careful adding the water to your carboy. Do NOT add boiling water to a carboy or you'll end up with a destroyed and unusable carboy. Chill it first, then add.

B

Wow !!!!!! not that anyone here is wrong but I come from a completlly different method I guess... when I started out I was always taught by more expierenced brewers and also by john Palmer and charlie Papazian that if your water is good enough to drink ie. no contaminents or bacteria that would get you sick then there was no reason to boil your top off water when doing extract brews. now obviously ( hopefully) you have to boil your wort and hops but make sure you cool it down either using a ice bath in your sink or a immersion chiller down to about 70 degrees, as stated above adding hot water to plastic or glass will cause big problems. Finally the importance of cooling is beneficial to the yeast always remember pitch your yeast at a cool temperature to avoid off flavors caused during the first 12 hours of yeast reproduction. now to the question of your pot yes you can boil 2.5 gallons of water or wort in a 4 gallon pot( 16 quarts ) but as stated above be attentive as you may have a boil over which really sucks to clean up. As you progress with brewing you will quickly learn the bigger pot the better as you will be able to do full volume boils get better hop utilization and have less chance of boil over. good luck with your beer and let us know how it turns out.