Boiling 5 gallons

[IvanTheTerrible]

Just out of curiosity, what are the benefits, if any, of boiling all 5 gallons instead of boiling 3 gallons and pouring into 2 gallons in the fermenter?

Thats what you guys do when you use a keggle, right?...brew all 5 gallons?

Along that same line, why do you have to equip the "keg"gle with a valve at the bottom? Can't the wort be poured into the fermenter like you would with a typical kettle?

PLease shed some light... thanks,
-I

 

[vav]

Better hop utilization.

However, it's hard to do on a regular home stove. Also, make sure and check that your wall tiles next to the burner you're using are actual ceramic, not linoleum meant to LOOK like ceramic. D:

I have a 6 gallon SS brew kettle, and i cannot get a full, rolling boil on my stove.

 

[Orfy]

When you do AG you need to concentrate the wort amongst other reason.

 

[Dycokac]

From what i've seen in other posts around here, Full boils (all 5 or 10 gallons at once) improve the finished product. Has to be some chemical thing

As for the pouring a Keggle vs ball valve at the bottom, 5 gallons is awefully heavy and would take longer to pour than 3 gallons. I'm not very good at Isometrics so i'd rather not hold the pot for that long myself.

The other advantage is you could use a counterflow chiller instead of a imersion chiller. I thought I read that counterflow chillers can be more efficient than imersion chillers.

 

[Joker]

It would also make it a one person operation, at least for me. Right now I have to have someone hold my funnel for me while I pour the wort, and I also have to stop to clean the strainer in my funnel. Its a delicate balance act getting from pot to primary at my brewhouse.(garage)

 

[IowaStateFan]

Hop utilization decreases as the gravity of the wort increases. In other words, if you are boiling a concentrated wort you'll need more hops to get the same bittering effect. By boiling the full 5 gallons the gravity of the wort will be lower so you could use fewer hops.

Another (and IMO bigger) advantage to boiling the full 5 gallons is that you will get less carmelization of the sugars in the wort which allows you to brew lighter colored beers.

You can get the same effect when you boil 2 or 3 gallons by adding most of your extract at the end of the boil. Use 1 pound per gallon in the boil and add the rest at flameout. That way you've lowered the gravity during the boil so you'll get better hop utilization, and you won't be carmelizing the sugars in the extract you've added late. Some people add their extract in the last 15 minutes of the boil, but I found that it takes most of that time to get my boil restarted and I don't get good flavor or aroma from my late hop additions. I just add it at flameout and let it steep for 10 or 15 minutes before cooling to pastuerize it.

 

[Funkenjaeger]

Concentrated boils have decreased hop utilization, and also lead to a lot more caramelization and other effects. This results in darkening (and probably some degree of flavor effect, though that's difficult to quantify), which is why many extract brewers use late extract additions.

All-grain brewers do full boils because we're not starting with extract - by putting all of the brewing water through the mash/sparge, you're extracting as much as you can from the grains.

Finally, if you've ever actually handled a keggle you'd know immediately why you wouldn't want to pour wort from them. First of all, they're pretty heavy, even with only a 5-gal batch, as compared to a traditional stock pot. Second, they're pretty large and ungainly, even without considering the weight. Finally, you have a lip and rim at the top, so trying to pour from one is not nearly as elegant as it is in a standard pot, it tends to splash against the inside of the rim and make a mess.

And of course a spigot becomes even more of a no-brainer once you start talking about doing 10-gallon batches, which is one reason many people use keggles. I'd like to see someone who can comfortably lift and pour a keggle filled with 10 gallons of wort, and not make a mess or injure themselves in the process.