3.5 gallon pot for 2.5 gallon boil?

[MikeSkril]

I just wanted to know if my 3.5 gallon pot is big enough for a 2.5 gallon boil.
I mean will there be enough space for adding 6 to 10 lb LME when boiling 2.5 gallon of water?

Thanks!

 

[amcclelland]

I don't think so. It would almost certainly boil over. A 5 gallon pot is just big enough to contain 2.5 gallons of water and malt extract, not to mention the foam.

 

[blackbeer]

i boil 7.5 gal in a 8 gal pot but it gets dicey sometimes. you gotta watch it close and i've had to split the boil sometimes.

 

[ncbrewer]

You can still use the 3.5 gallon pot. Just boil the total volume you're comfortable with in the pot (maybe 2.5 gallons total) and include enough extract to give more or less 1.040 gravity. Then add the remaining extract at flameout. It should boil down enough to add the late extract without any problem. You should experiment ahead of time to make sure - if there's not enough room for the late extract at flameout, go for a little less initial volume.

 

[schokie]

Try using Fermcap-S. It spells the end of boil overs. I can fill my kettle up the the brim and walk away from it without fear of it foaming over.

My wife even uses it when cooking pasta.

 

[Dawkfan]

Try using Fermcap-S. It spells the end of boil overs. I can fill my kettle up the the brim and walk away from it without fear of it foaming over.

My wife even uses it when cooking pasta.

This! Fermcap-S is great stuff.

 

[DaNewf]

I do 14-15 litre all grain batches in a 19 litre pot. The pot is pretty much full (18+ litres)at the beginning of the boil. I stand by with a spray bottle until the boil is established and the first hop addition has settled down. I keep a close eye on it for the first 10-15 minutes, after that it's safe to do other stuff that might require a little attention.

This picture shows a pot of KingBrianI's Common Room ESB a couple of minutes before the boil starts. The bag on the far side of the pot is the first wort hops.

EDIT TO ADD: I'm not recommending anyone try to max out their brew pot the way I do, I'm just saying it can be done. I'm in the process of getting a larger brew pot since the potential for disaster is pretty high with my current setup.

 

[honus03]

What is that a cookie sheet under your kettle? And what does it do?

 

[DaNewf]

What is that a cookie sheet under your kettle? And what does it do?

It's an aluminum oven liner. You put it in the bottom of your oven to catch drips and spills so cleaning your oven isn't as big a deal.

The one I have has a hole cut in it the exact size of the stove element I brew over. It catches minor spills and drips and acts as a sort of heat shield for the stovetop itself. The first time I brewed on the stove the entire area under the pot turned an alarming brown color that required an SOS pad, half a bottle of VIM and a lot of elbow grease to remove. Luckily I got it sorted before my wife saw it. The oven liner seems to reduce this quite a bit.

 

[GaoDeBrew]

I brew 2.5 gallons of water in a 4 gallon for my 5 gallon extract batches. Don't really have a problem, although I always keep an eye on it. You may be cutting it close, but it could be doable. Just keep an eye on the boil because a boil over can happen an a couple seconds. Definitely use Fermcap.

 

[mdindy]

you should consider getting a larger pot (4.5 atleast) when adding more than 6lbs of LME. The most I could get away with when I used a smaller kettle was about 8lbs of LME and that was really pushing it. One thing I did have luck with was using all DME in a high gravity recipe, didn't seem to add as much volume and I could get away with 9-10lbs of DME, still got close but without investing in a larger pot I would recomend trying that.

 

[MikeSkril]

I did my first brew in the 3.5 gal pot. Not a problem at all! I used Fermcap and came never close to the top. I boiled 2.5 gal of water + 3.3 lb LME + 1 lb DME + 3.3 lb LME (late addition).

Thanks for telling me about Fermcap...works great!

 

[douglasbarbin]

Try some kettle defoamer

 

[MikeSkril]

That is the 3.5 gallon pot after steeping in 2.5 gallon of water.

And that's after adding 3.3 lb LME and 1 lb of DME. Enough space!