full boil question?

[comer88888]

So I am doing my first full boil and was wondering should I steep my grains in a different pot first? 2 gallons of water isnt very much water to steep in a 8 gallon pot. Thanks for the help.

 

[butler1244]

I'm still newer to brewing, but from what I've read it is better to steep the grains in all 5 gallons if that is what size batch you are brewing. It's a bit harder to get the temp exactly where you want it to be, but the result will be better beer.

Here's another post on the topic...
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f37/what-volume-water-temp-time-timing-steep-grains-51609/

 

[Surly]

I'm still newer to brewing, but from what I've read it is better to steep the grains in all 5 gallons if that is what size batch you are brewing. It's a bit harder to get the temp exactly where you want it to be, but the result will be better beer.

Here's another post on the topic...
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f37/what-volume-water-temp-time-timing-steep-grains-51609/

I take a couple of gallons of water and heat to steeping temp. At the same time I am bringing my boil kettle up towards boiling, but not quite. After my steep in the smaller kettle I add it to the BK and bring it up to boiling. Saves a bit of time.

 

[Rev2010]

Do it in the same kettle. I often steep in 3 gallons of water and never had any off flavors and such that are sometimes quoted steeping in large volumes of water.


Rev.

 

[RM-MN]

The reason the kit instructions call for steeping in 2 gallons is that many people have kettles that will hold that much and the ability to heat that quantity of water on the kitchen stove. If you have a big kettle and heat source to bring that much to a boil, by all means steep in the full amount.

 

[Yooper]

You might not have any astrigency issues with steeping in the full volume, but I still wouldn't do it. I'd steep in the correct amount of liquid in a second pot, bring the rest of the volume up to a boil in the boil kettle, and just add your liquor from your brewing grains to that after the steep. That will get you up to a boil fast, as well as not risk any tannin extraction from a too-high steeping pH. It would also work well just in case you had in grains in there that were to be mashed like Munich malt.

 

[HopSong]

Is there anything wrong with doing what I did in my current batch.. unbottled yet. What I did what to bring 2.5 gals to steeping temp while bringing my BK up to a boil... but not yet boiling.. When I finished steeping my grains, I rinsed them in the BK which was being held at 155*.. then continued to bring the BK up to a boil.. I should be able to get the full richness out of the grains w/o changing volumes by rinsing.

Also, on a similar note.. Is there a reason to NOT steep, add to BK and then add the hops per instructions W/O adding the extract? IOW, add the extract at flameout and stir like crazy before starting up the chiller? I would think that would tend to keep the extract from changing color. Cuz the extract should already be ready to go straight out of the can/bag.

Am I missing something here?

 

[Yooper]

Is there anything wrong with doing what I did in my current batch.. unbottled yet. What I did what to bring 2.5 gals to steeping temp while bringing my BK up to a boil... but not yet boiling.. When I finished steeping my grains, I rinsed them in the BK which was being held at 155*.. then continued to bring the BK up to a boil.. I should be able to get the full richness out of the grains w/o changing volumes by rinsing.

Also, on a similar note.. Is there a reason to NOT steep, add to BK and then add the hops per instructions W/O adding the extract? IOW, add the extract at flameout and stir like crazy before starting up the chiller? I would think that would tend to keep the extract from changing color. Cuz the extract should already be ready to go straight out of the can/bag.

Am I missing something here?

No- that sounds exactly like something that I would do! It should work great.

 

[HopSong]

Thanks Y.. I haven't seen any mentioning that.. Figured getting the grains and hops done separately and then mixing in the malt would make sense.. but wasn't sure.

 

[NewSoCalBrewer]

I have my first full-boil extract in primary now. I steeped my grains (2lbs) in the full volume of water (6.5 gal) for 1/2 hour at 158*. I don't know if I'll get any off flavors from the full kettle steep (the OG sample tasted great), but is there any importance to boil the extract to precipitate a hot break to coagulate any proteins in the wort?

I did a 60min boil with my 10lbs of extract. It's Janet's Brown Ale, so I was not concerned about color, but I've never heard of adding the extract at flame-out. Does this affect hop utilization in a recipe?

Sorry if this has been discussed before. I've only brewed 4 batches so far.

*nevermind: Sort of answered my own question

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/hop-utilization-178668/

 

[LCTitan]

I steep on the stove using one gallon of water per pound of grain then add that to the 10 gallon pot to due a full boil. I usually start off with about 6.25 gallons. Works well for me and usually gets me very close to my five gallon mark when I transfer from the brew pot to the fermentor.

 

[cincybrewer]

Also, on a similar note.. Is there a reason to NOT steep, add to BK and then add the hops per instructions W/O adding the extract? IOW, add the extract at flameout and stir like crazy before starting up the chiller? I would think that would tend to keep the extract from changing color. Cuz the extract should already be ready to go straight out of the can/bag.

Am I missing something here?

Wouldn't that effect hop utilization? I'm sure it wouldn't be tough to adjust for the change, but I thought the sugars in boil effect the hops.

edit: I noticed NewSoCalBrewer's link discusses this but I haven't had a chance to read it in it's entirety yet.

 

[Yooper]

Wouldn't that effect hop utilization? I'm sure it wouldn't be tough to adjust for the change, but I thought the sugars in boil effect the hops.

edit: I noticed NewSoCalBrewer's link discusses this but I haven't had a chance to read it in it's entirety yet.

It used to be the standard thinking, that wort gravity affects hops utilization. John Palmer stated this in his book. But in the last few years, he's come out and said he was wrong- that hops utilization is NOT dependent on wort gravity.

I prefer adding the majority of the extract at the end of the boil. It gives a "less cooked extract" taste, more like a comparable AG beer, as well as a brighter flavor and less maillard reactions. Color is more favorable, also.

 

[cincybrewer]

Very interesting, if that is the case I may just end up adding it all at the end, or at least a large chunk.....of course I won't get that awesome wort aroma and look for the entire boil.

 

[biestie]

It used to be the standard thinking, that wort gravity affects hops utilization. John Palmer stated this in his book. But in the last few years, he's come out and said he was wrong- that hops utilization is NOT dependent on wort gravity.

I prefer adding the majority of the extract at the end of the boil. It gives a "less cooked extract" taste, more like a comparable AG beer, as well as a brighter flavor and less maillard reactions. Color is more favorable, also.

That's pretty interesting. Years ago when I started doing full boils I'd just take recipe kits and boil 6+ gallons instead of 3. I noted that my beer had a bite to it that wasn't there when I made partial boils. After a few batches I decided that it had to be the hop utilization and I scaled them back. Seemed to work but I really was a novice so it could've been anything. I too add my extract late. I'm nit sure if beersmith accounts for that in the ibus or not.