Can I add hops to only half of my split boil?

[happy bubbling]

So, here is my dilemma. I am relatively new to brewing and am on batch number 3, but have shamelessly gotten ahead of myself and bought the grain for a 5 gallon all grain Tripel that I really want to try. The issue is that I don’t have a boil kettle large enough. I’m sitting at 4 gallons in the kettle max so that I don’t boil over. I know I can do split boils, and I’m happy doing that, but the hops don’t split evenly in this recipe, leaving me with the issue of how can I split my hops without buying a scale? Do I need to split them, or can I just boil them all in my first run then only boil my second run long enough to kill everything? If I do this, will it impact the final product? My grain is frozen (for now) so I have a week or two before I really need to brew it.

 

[John Eberly]

Tripel is a malt forward beer with hops being less prominent. This makes hop additions easier to fudge than if you were brewing an IPA.

If you just add all of your hops to say 3 gallons you will lose some extraction efficiency.

I say split the hops approximately in half and make 2 mini batches.

That is unless you buy a cheap turkey fryer to get a 7 gallon pot... You know it is inevitable that you will need to upgrade, right?

 

[BikerMatt]

I've done this once, though it was a 100IBU IPA. turned out drinkable though not very aromatic hop wise. I'm with John on this, split the hops by using YBG* and boil both batches with the hops.

But as said the scale isn't a bad thing to buy or even an expensive one, and the bigger cooking pot is just a matter of time trust me I just got a 25L one to replace my 15L, at some point in the near future the time wasted becomes more expensive than the price of the pot.



*your best guess

 

[wilserbrewer]

I don’t understand why you can’t “split” the hops?

Either spread the hops into two equal piles or rows on a table and eyeball as equal as possible, or measure the hop pellets by volume using a tablespoon or two glasses.

If one batch of the two has slightly more or less by a small percentage I would think it is insignificant once the two are mixed together.

IMO your overthinking the issue.

 

[LarMoeCur]

@happy bubbling. I live in Corpus Christi! I have a scale and I have 15 gallon keg/kettle that I know longer use. Hop split or full boil problem solved.

 

[Griffin495]

Just eyeball it and get it as close as you can. Or take up LarMoeCur on his offer.

Two guys from Corpus? I grew up there. Someday I hope to move back.

 

[happy bubbling]

Thanks for the advice! Any and all help is appreciated at this point. As far as upgrading my system, I know that I need to sooner rather than later, but I just graduated college in May (Rah Virginia Mil '17) so upgrading now kind hurts my budget. That being said, I am more than happy to keep brewing and trying to figure out what works the best to make the best beer.

As far as overthinking it, I probably am, but there are a lot of things in homebrewing that can ruin a batch if not done right. If something I am brewing turns out to be a bad beer even though I did everything right, I wont mind it as much as if I thought something was wonky.

Cheers