Boil Question

[sgoehner]

Before I finally go to bed, one question for my second batch. I know there are a lot of benefits to doing a full boil even on an extract. I cannot do a full boil, but I can do about 3.5 to 4 gallons instead of the 2.5 that the kit calls for. Would it be beneficial to do as much as possible?

 

[Hammy71]

Yes. Your supposed to adjust your hop amounts but I never bothered and the beers came out fine.

 

[aiptasia]

It won't hurt in small batch brewing to do that, say, under 10 gallons. Your boil is actually a concentrate and will be thinned out a bit with your topoff water in your primary fermentor anyway.

 

[TromboneGuy]

Yeah, if you have a tiny bit of extra hops toss them in, since they won't be used as effectively in a small boil. Other than that, it shouldn't be a problem. I did my first few batches that way. Still do, really, my stove can't quite handle boiling 7 something gallons, so I usually start my boil at 5gal and then adjust with water in the fermenter.

 

[billf2112]

The more water in the boil the higher the IBU's will be with the same amount of hops. When you add water your dilute the wort you boiled.

 

[sgoehner]

Thanks everyone, I ended up doing 3.5 gallons and after shaking the wort and top off water like crazy I ended up almost nailing the OG the kit called for 1.052 and I ended up with about 1.051. Really happy with that, the recommended temp range for the yeast I am using (Wyeast 1007) is 55-68 and in my swamp chiller I have it at 64ish and it is going down a little more. Oh, I am doing the Norther Brewer German Alt.