Boiling wort in separate vessels

[mauri_sarasvuo]

I currently have a 20L kettle but my stove can barely get the 10L of wort into rolling boil. I have understood that this is the reason why my homebrews haven't been as bitter as I would have hoped.

Would it work if I transferred some of the wort into two separate 2-3L kettles and made my hop additions into these separate kettles and after the boil add the wort back into the large kettle.

 

[Miraculix]

Your bitterness depends on the temperature and the amount of alpha acids in the hops and of course on the amount of hops and the time the hops are spending at that temperature.

If you are somewhere around 100c, then the rolling boil or not has nothing to do with your bitterness.

However, you can split the wort, but you'd have to distribute the hops according to the volumes in the different kettles. This will introduce oxygen and this will be detrimental to the beer.

 

[corkybstewart]

Yes you can do that. Split the wort, split the hops and let it boil. At this point in the process you need all the oxygen you can get for healthy yeast. Is a propane outdoor cooker a possibility for you? If so that is a better solution, at least for the summer months.

 

[Miraculix]

Yes you can do that. Split the wort, split the hops and let it boil. At this point in the process you need all the oxygen you can get for healthy yeast. Is a propane outdoor cooker a possibility for you? If so that is a better solution, at least for the summer months.

That is not correct. Before the boil and during the boil, you want to avoid oxygen as much as you can.

After cooling it down, after the boil, you want all the oxygen for the yeast.

 

[madscientist451]

Would it work if I transferred some of the wort into two separate 2-3L kettles and made my hop additions into these separate kettles and after the boil add the wort back into the large kettle.

Yes, it will work, but perhaps get a cheap 10L kettle and use that on the side. I use this method often and it works fine. I use a side pot to get the boil going faster and then use a large measuring cup to transfer the hot wort to the main pot. The "hot side aeration" issue has been an on and off debate here for a while, and I don't worry about that too much although I avoid splashing the hot wort when combining the two pots. No, its not the "right way" to brew, but sometimes you have to get by with what you have.

 

[corkybstewart]

That is not correct. Before the boil and during the boil, you want to avoid oxygen as much as you can.

After cooling it down, after the boil, you want all the oxygen for the yeast.

Everything I've read over the past 25 years indicates HSA is an extremely minor issue at most on the homebrewing level. I'm gonna keep on not worrying too much about it.

 

[Miraculix]

Everything I've read over the past 25 years indicates HSA is an extremely minor issue at most on the homebrewing level. I'm gonna keep on not worrying too much about it.

The main thing I wanted to say was that you do not need any oxygen up until the point where you pitch your yeast. Sorry if that was not clear.

Regarding HSA, you might want to read a bit more. Hsa is not something that you want to enforce.

 

[CascadesBrewer]

I currently have a 20L kettle but my stove can barely get the 10L of wort into rolling boil. I have understood that this is the reason why my homebrews haven't been as bitter as I would have hoped.

Are you doing partial boil extract brewing? If you are adding the full amount of extract to your concentrated wort, my understanding is that you will get less bitterness from the hops. You could try adding just half of the extract to your boil and adding the other half right at the end of the boil.

I am surprised your stove cannot get 10L of water to a good boil, though as long as there is some boiling occurring the wort is up near the 100C level and isomerization is occuring.

 

[Miraculix]

Are you doing partial boil extract brewing? If you are adding the full amount of extract to your concentrated wort, my understanding is that you will get less bitterness from the hops. You could try adding just half of the extract to your boil and adding the other half right at the end of the boil.

I am surprised your stove cannot get 10L of water to a good boil, though as long as there is some boiling occurring the wort is up near the 100C level and isomerization is occuring.

You can also just boil the hops in plain water, add the extract at flame out and then top off with the remaining water after the boil. That way hop utilisation would be maximised plus the topping off water would already chill the liquid quite a bit and the extract would be on high temperature only for a very short time which is good for the beer.

Sorry, I missed that this is an extract brew, otherwise I would have said that before.

 

[hamachi]

Would it work if I transferred some of the wort into two separate 2-3L kettles and made my hop additions into these separate kettles and after the boil add the wort back into the large kettle.

Yes, it would work. Due both to my kettle sizes and weak electric stove, I do this for every batch that I brew.

I mash in a bag. The first running goes into the big pot. Batch sparge 1 goes into the medium pot. Batch sparge 2 goes into the small pot. Hops usually go into the small pot. At the end of the boil, everything gets combined into the big pot and chilled.