Accounting for boil-off.

[Euripidez]

Big brew day tomorrow, and the instructions call for steeping the grains in 2.5 gallons of water for 20 minutes, and then boiling with bittering and flavoring hops for ~1 hour. I suspect I will have less than 2 gallons left after an hour of boiling. Do I keep adding water to the boil or is the boil off important for the wort? I know I add water post-boil to bring the wort to the right gravity before pitching the yeast, correct?

Thanks for any clarification! My first brew was done under supervision of a seasoned brewer but I'm tacking 1/2 grain 1/2 extract all by myself tomorrow.

- Eur

 

[theempire]

You will have less than 2 gallons left when you're done boiling. When I brewed partial mash I would just top up to 5 gallons with cold water at the end with no issues. Plus it makes cooling the wort a breeze.

 

[Yooper]

You could start with more liquid in the boil, so that you end up with more wort in the end and less topping off. If you can boil, say, 4 gallons, then by all means do it!

 

[Euripidez]

I neglected to mention that my kettle has a 3 gallon max, so 2.5 gallons works perfectly. I was also under the impression that increasing the wort will change the IBU for the recipe, which I do not wish to do.

I will just boil and not add water and then add water to the wort to get back to five gallons. Thanks for the clarification, I couldn't find an answer!

Looking forward to some brown ale!

 

[Yooper]

I neglected to mention that my kettle has a 3 gallon max, so 2.5 gallons works perfectly. I was also under the impression that increasing the wort will change the IBU for the recipe, which I do not wish to do.

I will just boil and not add water and then add water to the wort to get back to five gallons. Thanks for the clarification, I couldn't find an answer!

Looking forward to some brown ale!

No, it's not true that IBUs are affected by wort gravity/boil size. The differences between 2 gallon boil and 2.5 gallon boil are negligible. Even the differences between a 2 gallon boil and a 4 gallon boil are negligible.

Generally, start with the biggest boil you can for the best tasting beer.

 

[Euripidez]

Thanks, yooper!
I will get my kettle as close to 2.5 gallons as I can when I start the boil. Trying to avoid boilover.

 

[Unibrow]

no, it's not true that ibus are affected by wort gravity/boil size. The differences between 2 gallon boil and 2.5 gallon boil are negligible. Even the differences between a 2 gallon boil and a 4 gallon boil are negligible.

Generally, start with the biggest boil you can for the best tasting beer.

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