Full vs partial boil

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neckbone

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I've just thought about this question.

I usually order kits from B3 or AHB. The instructions in their kits are for partial boils. Last night I did a mild stount from B3, but instead of partial, I started w/ 6.5 gallons of water, and the siphon started sputtering at exactly the 5 gal mark on my fermenter. I didn't check gravity, just got it in the fermenter and added yeast.

Does it make a difference when you're using a kit if you do partial or full? Or is it the same?
 
Your gravity should be the same. It will only change if fermentables are added or taken out.

However, your beer will likely be more bitter than intended. When doing full boils, you get better hop utilization and your IBU's will increase substantially. I recommend you purchase brewing software and take a look at the numbers there.
 
I've started doing full boils with extract kits, and while I haven't noticed any difference (my palate probably isn't all it could be) I'd be interested in what the more experienced brewers have to say about this.
 
Partial water boil can sometimes lead to a darker color and more concentrated flavor. It's usually not a huge difference, but a difference. I have gone to adding only 1/3 of my extract to the full water amount until the last 15 minutes with good results. The beginning extract helps hops isomerize. You will loose several points in gravity because all of the extract is not in the boil for the full 60 minutes. But you can make that up in your recipe.
 
Partial water boil can sometimes lead to a darker color and more concentrated flavor. It's usually not a huge difference, but a difference. I have gone to adding only 1/3 of my extract to the full water amount until the last 15 minutes with good results. The beginning extract helps hops isomerize. You will loose several points in gravity because all of the extract is not in the boil for the full 60 minutes. But you can make that up in your recipe.

Incorrect. You will not lose gravity points by reducing the boil time of the extract.
Hops utilization will be affected to some degree depending on when the hops are added and when the extract is added. You may gain IBUs if you take a given recipe and add the extract later but do not adjust the hop schedule since the less sugars are in the wort the more the hops will utilized.
 
Just did a Two Hearted clone and missed 1.064 gravity with a 1.078 reading. Added 3.15 of the 9.15# at 30 min instead of all at 60. Anyone think this is why the high OG?
 
Just FYI, bottling buckets aren't calibrated with 5.0gallons correctly. At least not usually.

You overshot your og b/c one of two things: increased sugars (hard to do with a kit), or lower water volume.

My guess is you don't have 5 gal.
 
Just FYI, bottling buckets aren't calibrated with 5.0gallons correctly. At least not usually.

You overshot your og b/c one of two things: increased sugars (hard to do with a kit), or lower water volume.

My guess is you don't have 5 gal.

Or option #3 is that when you topped off to 5 gallons (you did not say if this was a full boil or partial), you did not get the water mixed in enough. That is another common reason for High or Low gravity readings when topping off.
 
Using a partial boil will make no difference in the gravity of the beer. The only things a partial boil might do is darken your beer (because the concentrated wort may caramelize), and reduce your hop utilization.

You can resolve both issues by doing late extract additions. Add 20-50% of the extract at the beginning of the boil, then add the remaining extract in the final 10-20 minutes.
 
Looper said:
Read KurtB's post more carefully.

What he said is possible.

But that isn't an issue with the gravity of the beer ad a whole, but with the gravity of the sample you drew. As mentioned, if you added the right amount of extract and the right amount of top-up water, your gravity should be very close, if not identical, to where it should be, regardless of a high or low reading.
 
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