Question Regarding Partial Boils

[indeedproceed]

Does it matter *how* partial a boil it is?

My stove cannot heat 5 gallons of water to a boil...at least if it can, it can't do it in less than an hour.

It can however heat 3 gallons of water to a boil. So if I were to make this recipe using 3 gallons of water in the pot instead of 1 gallon, would it make a huge difference?

 

[TipsyDragon]

yes it would make a big difference. the more water you add the lower your boil gravity will be unless you add more fermentables. the lower your boil gravity is the more bitterness you will get out of the hops. the recipe in question (hopefully) has the math already done for you. you can redo the math with the new boil gravity and recalculate how much of the hops you need.

 

[indeedproceed]

so if I bought a truebrew kit and the kit has you doing a partial boil...and I tried to do full boil, I will not get what I thought I would get...it might not be worse, but it will be different for sure?

 

[passedpawn]

Your recipe only has you boiling 1 gallon. Then adding this to cold water to make 5 gallons. What's the problem?

 

[indeedproceed]

Your recipe only has you boiling 1 gallon. Then adding this to cold water to make 5 gallons. What's the problem?

No problem, but I didn't stick to the recipe. I boiled 3 gallons, not 1...I didn't know it would make a difference, and honestly, I still have very little idea what I am doing and probably still lack many core concepts.

Honestly I'd just gotten a 6.5 gallon brewpot and was eager to attempt a full boil. I didn't know that proportions would be involved. I will def need to do some reading before I try again.

 

[TipsyDragon]

yes it will definitely be different than what the maker of the kit intended. any change in boil gravity will cause a change in bitterness. its up to you to decide if its bad or not. also it will change the color and flavor of the resulting beer due to mailard reactions. again its up to you to decide if its a bad difference or not.


go here there are lots of tools that will help you do the math.

 

[Frodo]

It would affect your hop utilization - they probably upped the amounts of hops (I don't see the quantities in the recipe to account for the 1 gallon boil)... The higher density the wort, the lower the hop utilization - and vise versa. With a 3 gallon boil your wort was less gravity, therefore you had more hop utilization... That said, 1 gal vs. 3 gal boil? Don't sweat it. It might be slightly more bitter than the recipe called for, that's all.

 

[indeedproceed]

I've been smelling the airlock...smells SUPER hoppy. I think it's gonna be good. Note to self: wait 3 weeks...note to self: wait 3 weeks....

 

[Vuarra]

Wait until you leave the house... and come back again. I made a very balanced beer today, and I still loved the hops smell when I walked in the door.

 

[indeedproceed]

It would affect your hop utilization - they probably upped the amounts of hops (I don't see the quantities in the recipe to account for the 1 gallon boil)... The higher density the wort, the lower the hop utilization - and vise versa. With a 3 gallon boil your wort was less gravity, therefore you had more hop utilization... That said, 1 gal vs. 3 gal boil? Don't sweat it. It might be slightly more bitter than the recipe called for, that's all.

If it ups the hop utilization, will it make the malt extract less um...I'm not sure the word...pronounced? Or will it be the same maltiness, but just more bitter?

 

[Mmenges]

It's going to make the beer more bitter.

 

[passedpawn]

Your beer will be great. Trust me. Wort gravity affects hop utilization, but don't buy into the craziness.

It's gonna be great.

Oh yea, my car wanted to give you some advice:

 

[Vuarra]

I thought the talking car was a Pontiac Trans Am with the James Bond Option Package.