First Partial Boil

[eighteez]

Howdy!

I'm 4 batches into the hobby.

All of which were outdoor propane full 5 gal boils.

I want to get some more beer started and its still a bit cold to be sitting outside doing this...

I picked up a couple of "True Brew" kits at a new local home brew shop. Their instructions prescribe a partial (1.5 gal) boil.

While I know its recommended to do 5 gal boils, I'm going to give partial boils a try for these 2 kits. We'll see what happens!

Anyway, my question is this. The brewpot. Can I still use my 7 gal brewpot that I would normally use? I like the idea of ensuring that I dont have boil overs on the stove in the house. And it seems this would help nicely for that.

I'm sure I need to be careful not to scorch the wort though, as it'd be easy to have the heat up too high with no worry of boiling over....

 

[TTB-J]

There's nothing "True" about a 1.5 gallon boil. A 3 gallon boil is at least respectable. Regardless, a 7 gallon pot is a little bit overkill for preventing against boil overs, but it's not like it will hurt to use that pot as opposed to another one (except for a little loss in efficiency).

 

[csiewert]

I'm the exact opposite... I've done partials for all my batches so far because I started with the kits... probably like a lot of noobs like me. I would imagine that the reasoning for the kit makers to go for the partial boils is to appeal to the larger community who don't want to buy large expensive pots. I don't think there would be any issue with using the larger pot as long as the temperature was watched to make sure it was just enough to keep the boil going... you will have a lot of surface area in the bottom of the 7 gal pot with relatively little liquid to heat... I'm assuming that's what you are afraid of.

 

[eighteez]

TTB-J, what do you mean by "true"?

I've done full boils so far based upon recommendations from more "senior brewers". Lots of good advice to be had here!

What, in your opinion, is the drawback of partial boils? Or extreme partials like 1.5 gal?

 

[TTB-J]

I was just riffing on the name of the beer - "True Brew."

The drawback of partial boils is that they can sometimes have less flavor/body than a full boil because you're diluting the wort with top off water. But I still do partial boils because I chill the top off water to make for easier knockouts. That being said, a 1.5 gallon boil will leave you with about 1 gallon of wort and then the need to use 4 gallons of top off water! 80% top off water? It will still be beer, but I think you will notice a big difference in flavor from that and your full boils.

 

[midfielder5]

just do a 5 gal boil & add the remaining water to top off.
it will taste better, & you have the equipment. I wouldnt be a slave to some cheap kit instructions since you've been doing full boils.
cheers.

 

[eighteez]

TTB-J, ahhhh Yes! I didn't catch that. Funny!

Oh yeah, I'm not opposed to full boils. I will experiment with these 2 kits and see what happens. If its not as good as the previous ones I've done I'll know why.

If the weather were on my side I'd be doing full boils anyway. But I'm tired of waiting on mother nature to come around and be reasonable.

We learn by doing. Time to learn!

 

[midfielder5]

totally fine of course to try out the boil variable, but it is not a scientific way to go about it. this is because that one process change might not tell the whole story. it has different (probably not as fresh) extract & yeast from your other kits, right?
oh well, enjoy!

 

[eighteez]

I used one of the same company's kits about 5 weeks ago. It was a different recipe. But the yeast and malt extract are the same. (diff hops and grains)

So no its not exact, but similar.

After this one (the partial) is completed, I'll do a full boil of the same exact thing when the weather is on my side. Then I'll have a side by side comparison.