5 Gal Boil in 2 pots

[silver02ws6]

Been out of home brewing for sometime but I am getting back into and doing it right this time. Keg setup gets here tomorrow and Keezer will be in place in a few weeks!

Im brewing this weekend and have read about the benefits of doing a full 5 gal boil for extract kits and doing late malt additions. IF I split the boil between two pots 2.5 gal a piece can the same results be achieved.

Essentially bring 2.5 gal of water to a boil but 1/2 the malt extract in boil for 15 minutes.... cool and put in fermenter.

Another 2.5 gal do a full 60 minute boil with hop additions... adjusted for the lower gravity with only half the extract bill.

Does this make sense or am I over complicating the process for no reason.

Either way fresh beer on tap in a few weeks!!!!

 

[cwages]

I just read this article a week ago. Chris Coby talks about a "texas two step" method.
http://***********/stories/techniques/article/indices/30-extract-brewing/619-extract-method-to-your-madness
I would be a little worried about trying to fight off two boil overs at once, but I don"t multitask very well.

Hope this helps.

 

[uglysofa]

Sounds like a lot of extra effort and calculation for not that much extra reward. If it's lighter color you're chasing I'd just do a 2.5 gallon boil and a the majority of the extract close to the end of the boil.

But if you do split it, you need to split all ingredients between the two pots, hops included. That's what I do for all grain.

 

[silver02ws6]

I just read this article a week ago. Chris Coby talks about a "texas two step" method.
http://***********/stories/techniques/article/indices/30-extract-brewing/619-extract-method-to-your-madness
I would be a little worried about trying to fight off two boil overs at once, but I don"t multitask very well.

Hope this helps.

Why could you not do both the boils in one day? Thats the only part of the texas two step that confuses me. I think a late malt addition is needed at a minimum based on what I have read just for hop utilization.

What works best for everyone?

 

[WVBeerBaron]

I don't think it's worth the trouble of doing seperate boils IMHO, until you have a large pot anyway. I would just do a concentrated boil and add water later. Even with a 7.5 gallon pot I find myself doing 3 gallon boils with extract since it takes a lot more time to boil 5 gallons of water.

Definately late addition of the extract and pull the pot off the heat when adding the extract so it doesn't burn on the bottom of the pot.

 

[silver02ws6]

I ended up boiling 2.5 gallons in one pot and adding half of the liquid extract.... boiled it for 20 minutes and then cooled and put into the fermenter.

I then steeped the specialty grains in another pot, brought it to a boil, and added the other half of the liquid extract. I then proceeded with the hop additions once i had a rolling boil.

I know that my hop profile is going to be strong on this beer since I had no software to recalculate my additions. Thats fine because I am a hophead and did this on purpose just to see what would happen.

There was a little extra time involved doing it this way but nothing to crazy.

 

[malkore]

If you want to avoid the darker beer SRM from extracts, the late extract addition method will do far more for you than a split boil/full boil of 5 gallons.

I've done a split boil for all grain and PM brews though with much success. (mainly cuz I was doing it on the kitchen stove which couldn't boil more than 3 gallons per burner)

 

[zachary80]

Would this make more sense with a 5 and 3 gallon pot? That way you could do a full boil

 

[silver02ws6]

you need at least a 7 gal pot to do a full boil