Full Boil Extract Question

[simonpeternielsen]

Hey Guys,

I am deciding on what to brew for my fifth batch of beer, and I was wondering how important it is to do a full boil (5-6 gallons) for a recipe, as opposed to using the same amount of malt/hops in 2-3 gallons of water and adding the rest of the water after the boil?

The reason I am wondering is, although I have the equipment to do a full boil, it is now coming on winter her in WI and I live in an apartment building (no garage), and want to do higher quality recipes but am unable to get 6 gallons to boil on my stove.

Please let me know what you think!

 

[biestie]

It's not the size of the boil, it's the motion.... err... never mind. You can still make great bears doing partial boils. It's how almost all of us probably started. There are other factors that are more important than the size of the boil.

 

[day_trippr]

Three potential issues come to mind: partial boils can lead to a higher degree of caramelization, thus a darker color and a bit of flavor character shift; a reduction of hop efficiency accompanies increased wort density; and if your water has been chlorinated, using it for make-up volume may produce some off-flavors in the finished product.

That last one is the only issue I'd actually be concerned with, as the first can actually improve some recipes and the second can be countered with a hop rate increase...

Cheers!