2.5 or 5 gal boil?

[tahoetavern]

Finally received my NB starter kit!!! The kit is designed to boil 2.5 gal of water, then combine with 2.5 gal reg. water in the primary ferm. I will have a 7gal pot and burner to boil outside. Woul it be better to boil all 5 gal together? Will this improve the quality? It is for the "slobber ale" brewing in days!!!!!!

 

[SpentGrains]

Boil as much as you can fit without boil overs. Full boil would be 6-6.5 gallons pre boil, maybe too much for your pot but the more you start with the better.
I also do a late addition of extract, I believe last time I just added the DME at 60 min and then the LME 15 minutes left in the boil.

I've brewed caribou slobber twice, good choice.

 

[tahoetavern]

did you always do that? Curious how it would affect the quality

 

[Yooper]

did you always do that? Curious how it would affect the quality

It will be better. In general, boil as much as you can to make the best beer.

The reason so many kits call for a partial boil is simply because many new brewers don't have a way to boil and chill 5+ gallons! Even if some of them can boil on their stove, without a wort chiller or a way to chill the wort, it's very hard to chill 5+ gallons of boiling wort.

If you can chill 5 gallons from a boil to under 70 degrees, then that's not an issue at all.

 

[TwoHeart]

I was able to chill 4 gallons of wort in less than 30 minutes with 30 lbs of ice in an ice bath with salt. Salt will drop your ice bath temperature.

However, it can get a bit costly buying that much ice. I am thinking that for my next brew, I will do a complete full boil. I plan on buying a bunch of sandwich sized zip lock bags, filling them with water, and throwing them in my freezer chest. I plan on having about 40 lbs of them frozen. Drop them in an ice bath, add some salt, and should have 70 degree wort in right around 30 minutes.

 

[Pratzie]

It will be better. In general, boil as much as you can to make the best beer.

The reason so many kits call for a partial boil is simply because many new brewers don't have a way to boil and chill 5+ gallons! Even if some of them can boil on their stove, without a wort chiller or a way to chill the wort, it's very hard to chill 5+ gallons of boiling wort.

If you can chill 5 gallons from a boil to under 70 degrees, then that's not an issue at all.

+1 to all this. Plus a large boil volume will keep the beer from getting darker then it should for the style/batch. Darkening is an issue with smaller boil volumes unless u add the extract in the last 10-15 minutes.

 

[tahoetavern]

Good call, looking at getting a plate chiller in the future.

 

[Pratzie]

I was able to chill 4 gallons of wort in less than 30 minutes with 30 lbs of ice in an ice bath with salt. Salt will drop your ice bath temperature.

However, it can get a bit costly buying that much ice. I am thinking that for my next brew, I will do a complete full boil. I plan on buying a bunch of sandwich sized zip lock bags, filling them with water, and throwing them in my freezer chest. I plan on having about 40 lbs of them frozen. Drop them in an ice bath, add some salt, and should have 70 degree wort in right around 30 minutes.

Ive seen alot of people use soda bottles or empty sour cream containers that have been cleaned, filled with water and frozen. Def cheaper then buying bagged ice.

And some people go the sour cream container route but boil the water first, sanitize the containers, freeze that boiled water in the containers and then add those ice blocks right to their hot wort.

 

[tahoetavern]

I have seen people do that, makes me nervous. But if it works for them. "the newbie" isn't going to say anything.