first full boil

[jonp9576]

so i am in the process of trying to get my all grain equip together. i have an extract recipe here so i am going to use it today with my newly aquired 15 gal pot.

couple questions.
would there be any negative effects if i were to give my mash tun a test run with my steeping grains and a couple gallons of water?

this is my first full boil. and this pot is pretty wide. i did a test run on a big burner i had around here(250,000 btu) it got the pot down from 15 gals to about 10 gallons in about an hour.

today i am just using my turkey fryer burner since its only about 6 or so gallons of liquid to boil. with the lower BTU should i be really concerned about too much boil off?


finally, most people seem to say they start with 6.5 gallons for a 5 gallon batch. for extract, should it be 6.5 gals before the extract addition, or should it equal 6.5 after? also, if i come up short at the end of the boil i can just top off with water, right?

 

[Ceedubya]

you should have a total volume of about 6.5 gallons before the boil, so yes that includes the extract. The excact amount depends on how aggressive you get with the boil and the amount of evaporation.

Yes, you can top off with water if you boil off too much, but I would use the hydrometer to make this decision. If you are at your targe SG, I would leave it alone if you are just a little short.

 

[double_e5]

You boiled off 5 gallons in an hour? Damn you had the ****er ripping!

For my 65,000 BTU burner I let her rip to get to a boil and then I can cut it way back once I get it to a boil. It will stay at a nice rolling boil almost all the way down.

 

[jonp9576]

yea, i was just letting it blow. i was at work burning off old propane tanks so i had to get them empty asap, so it was really cooking.

i am brewing today with my turkey fryer(60,000 ish btu) and i plan to turn down once i boil, so i shouldnt have that much boil off