boiling the wort...

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well_bucket_brews

well_bucket_brews

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of the many manuals ive read in the lead up to my first brew (still buying the equipment), one mentions that you can boil the malt extract and hops and what-not in ONE gallon of water, then pour the hot one-gallon mixture into the fermenting bucket which contains 4 gallons of cold water and mix.. is this a plausible way to brew?

thanks!
 
Essentially, yes.

However, boiling a gallon to add to 4 gallons would be a little extreme. If you were to boil three gallons and add two, that would be a little more reasonable.

The more you boil (and thus, the less you top off), the better your brew will be, in general. More boil volume leads to better hop utilization and less darkening of your wort.
 
+1 to what ^ said. What you have read is for people with very limited equipment and cannot do more than a 1 gal boil for whatever reason. The closer you can get to full boil volume the better your brew will taste in the end.
 
If you have to do a one gallon boil, late extract addition should help. You could add 1# of extract with the 1 gallon for the boil, and add the rest with 15 minutes left in the boil or at flameout.

There are also some hop utilization issues involved, but that theory seems to be in a state of transition. In my opinion, if you boil 1# in 1 gallon, the bitterness shouldn't be affected too much with most recipes. YMMV.
 
ncbrewer said:
There are also some hop utilization issues involved, but that theory seems to be in a state of transition. In my opinion, if you boil 1# in 1 gallon, the bitterness shouldn't be affected too much with most recipes. YMMV.
Click to expand...

I guess I am of the old opinion. Basically, you can only get a certain IBU level in a beer. After that, the solution is saturated with alpha acids. If that happens in one gallon of liquid (and say you have 100 IBUs), when you add more liquid those IBUs are diluted. Adding a gallon with 100 IBUs to 4 gallons with zero IBUs, leaves five gallons with 20 IBUs. However, three gallons at 100 IBUs added to two gallons with zero IBUs yields five gallons with 60 IBUs.
 
I am fairly new to brewing, but from everything I have read, the more you can boil the better. The higher the gravity of your boil, the less efficency you are going to get from your hops.

1 oz of hops in 3 or 5 gallons is going to release more bitter and flavor than the same 1 oz in one gallon.
 
Boil the largest amount you can based on

1) the size of your pot and,

2) your ability to cool whatever amount you used once the boil is done.
 
so...if i followed a recipe for a 3 gallon boil w/ a 2 gallon top off would I be right in assuming that I could try a 4 gallon boil w/a 1 gallon top off and the result would be a lighter, better tasting batch? would i follow everything exactly as before?

just curious, still learning...
 
antony said:
so...if i followed a recipe for a 3 gallon boil w/ a 2 gallon top off would I be right in assuming that I could try a 4 gallon boil w/a 1 gallon top off and the result would be a lighter, better tasting batch? would i follow everything exactly as before?

just curious, still learning...
Click to expand...

That would be fine. You just have to be mindful of getting your wort chilled down around 65* for ales, under 60* for lagers before pitching. Having a larger volume of boiling wort makes that more challenging.

I typically do full-batch boils and end up with 6 gallons in the kettle (5.5 in the bucket). I don't know how I'd effectively cool that without an immersion chiller.
 
cool. i have a home built chiller that does three gallons in 15 minutes with little work. this weekend i'll shoot for 4 gallons, figuring I can get it down in less than thirty. thanks for the quick response BigFloyd.
 
antony said:
cool. i have a home built chiller that does three gallons in 15 minutes with little work. this weekend i'll shoot for 4 gallons, figuring I can get it down in less than thirty. thanks for the quick response BigFloyd.
Click to expand...

You're welcome.

With the chiller, you should be in good shape. Do you have any way to make your chiller water colder once the wort gets down below about 90*F?

You and I share the same problem of our Texas hose/tap water getting warmer as the year wears on. I use hose water until it gets to 90* and then start pumping water (with a Northern Tool submersible pump) out of a cooler where I can do a mix of water and ice.
 
ncbrewer said:
If you have to do a one gallon boil, late extract addition should help. You could add 1# of extract with the 1 gallon for the boil, and add the rest with 15 minutes left in the boil or at flameout./QUOTE]

I just ran the numbers for a flameout addition to a 1 gallon boil - it comes out at about 169*. With some cooling during the mixing, this might be getting a little close to minimum temperature for pasteurizing. Adding the late extract with 15 minutes left in the boil would be safer.

I also agree with the other posts that a larger boil is better if you can do it.

Also agree that the 5:1 dilution post boil limits the maximum bitterness in the final product, it that's an issue (depends on the style of beer).
Click to expand...
 
With the chiller, you should be in good shape. Do you have any way to make your chiller water colder once the wort gets down below about 90*F?
Click to expand...

yeah, i actually have two chillers & use one in a bucket of mostly ice to run the water through before it hits the wort chiller. last summer i was hitting pitching temps within 20-25 minutes when it was blazing hot. it was one of the first things i'd invested in, as cooling with ice in a tub was a pain in the butt.
 
'Lite' beers have less alcohol. That's how they have less calories
ha2.jpg
 
BigFloyd said:
You and I share the same problem of our Texas hose/tap water getting warmer as the year wears on. I use hose water until it gets to 90* and then start pumping water (with a Northern Tool submersible pump) out of a cooler where I can do a mix of water and ice.
Click to expand...

I'm in TX also, and have been looking into getting a submersible pump (I've been using an ice bath so far, and topping the wort up with frozen water, but still taking at least 25-30 min to get down to ale temp), especially with the hotter summer and therefore tap water temps coming soon...

What are the specs on your pump, and how well does it work for you? It seems like a great way to go (as opposed to a pre-chiller coil in a bucket), but I want to make sure I get one that has enough pumping power (wattage, or flow rate, or however one measures that) to get the job done in about 15-20 min or less. I'm doing 5 gal batches, so far. And how much was the pump, if you (or whomever else has a good recommendation/experience with one) don't mind me asking? Thanks!
 
BigFloyd said:
I have this one - http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_792_792

This time of year, I use hose water straight from the faucet to get it down to about 90*F and then switch over to the pump (sitting inside a cooler pushing ice water). I can get my wort down to 60*F pretty consistently that way.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the link and info. That's exactly what I'm looking for. Two follow-up questions:

What size immersion or plate chiller are you using, and how long does it take to get down to temp (using the tap water to 90, then using the pump, and total)?
 
bds3 said:
Also known as ice.
Click to expand...

Lol... I thought that as I was typing it, but left it that way to mean I put the gallon plastic bottles of water in the freezer before using them to top up the wort, as opposed to dumping a bunch of ice cubes in...
 

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