Columbus IPA

[rickj]

I just bought a 5 gallon IPA kit but I am only able to ferment 3 gallons. How much water should I start with to boil the grains? I am guessing I can just scale all the rest of the ingredients down a bit from the kit?

 

[BansheeRider]

I just bought a 5 gallon IPA kit but I am only able to ferment 3 gallons. How much water should I start with to boil the grains? I am guessing I can just scale all the rest of the ingredients down a bit from the kit?

You should do a full boil, but you definately don't want to boil the grains.

 

[sptaylor70]

Scale everything to 60% of the full kit. It takes me about 5 gal. of water to make 3 gal. of wort. And as BansheeRider said, don't boil the grains (follow the instructions in the kit).

 

[rickj]

For sure. This is only my second try. I was going to follow the recipe. I just wanted to know how much water to use at the start. I only have a 10 qt. boiling pot. I have started it and have not seen to much boil over.

 

[rickj]

I used 2 gallons to start with.

 

[rickj]

L

 

[rickj]

Can I just put 3 2/5 of the wort to the fermenter and add water?

 

[sptaylor70]

For the long term, you're going to want a bigger pot, if for nothing else than to make enough soup or chili or chicken stock. 4-5 gallon capacity is your goal. For the even longer term, you'll want a 10 gallon (or larger) brewing pot.

I assume that with such a small capacity pot, your kit is an extract kit? It would be difficult to do much more than steeping grains in a pot that small.

I should have asked way back, Why an only ferment 3 gallons? You can get a five gallon water carboy, use the water for your beer, and then put your wort right back into it. Add a stopper and a blow-off hose, and you're fermenting a full five gallons.

It's best to start with more water than you need and boil down, rather than boil and dilute.

 

[rickj]

I am starting out with a mr. Beer fermenter, I am trying to ferment my second try with a 5 gallon recipe. Cooling it down now. Not sure how-much of the wort I should put into the fermenter.