Augmenting boil pot.

[wolfej50]

I have a 4 gal brew pot that's fine for small batches (1-2 gal), but requires 'partial boil' techniques for standard 5 gal batches. Allowing space for hot break foaming and boil-off, my post-boil volumn could be as low as 2 gal (especially after an extended boil as Bill suggests in his recent article). I was thinking of the following technique to maximize post boil volumn. I use a 5-gal water cooler for BIAB mashing. I may be able to draw off 3 gal after mashing to start boiling with. However, after the initial foaming and some boil off, I'm thinking I could sparge the mash with addition water that could be added to the main boil pot as room allows. That additional sparge may require an another pot to bring up to boil before adding to the main pot. Does this make sense? Has anyone tried anything like this?

 

[PlinyTheMiddleAged]

Wolfej,

The only problem that I see is that the enzymes in your top-off wort will still be doing their thing while your main pot of wort is boiling. The result will be a lot more simple sugars in the top-off pot than will be in the main kettle.

One other way to handle it would be to go ahead and start your boil as usual and then bring the remainder of the wort up to 170°F in another pot - you don't need another pot to boil in. You just need to denature the enzymes. This will stop them from breaking down the sugars further.

I don't know how much difference this will make in your end product. Maybe not worth the effort, but it is something to consider.

 

[wolfej50]

Thanks, Pliny. If I understand you correctly, you would be concerned that the enzymes would not have time to finish the conversion. I would have thought that the 60 minutes in the mash tun would be plenty of time for the enzymes to do their thing. The extra sparge is just to make sure to get more of the resulting sugars from the mashed grain. I could use just plain water, but my hypothesis is that I can always get more sugars via the sparge. The question is whether this is enough sugar to make a difference? Or am I missing something?
Jim

 

[PlinyTheMiddleAged]

Sorry. I didn't explain myself well. What I meant was that as some of your wort is coming to boil, the remainder of your wort that you will add to the boil later as room allows will continue to be worked on by the active enzymes. Even though you removed the grain from the wort, the enzymes in the wort will continue to work until they are denatured. The result may be a fairly highly fermentable wort.

Again, not necessarily a problem but something to consider.

(Edited to correct dumbness made while hurrying)

 

[wolfej50]

Thanks for the follow up. Unless I hear other objections, I'm going to try this (taking notes of course). I'll report on the finished product (which, unfortunately, won't be for a month or two.) Also, as this isn't a controlled experiment I will only be able to report whether the results are good, not whether the technique made any difference one way or another.