How important is a full wort boil?

[petep1980]

I imagine it'd be best for best results, but as long as I have enough water for mash and sparge (am doing partial mash, so I don't need to top off with enough of both for the full boil), I can boil like 3 or 4 gallons and just top off with water for my 5 gallons?

 

[BeerPressure]

I think it's needed IMO.

 

[impetus19]

Full boils are more important when you are using all grain... Where you simply will not be able to remove enough sugars from the grain without the water volume.


I still think it is a better technique to use even with partial mash, however.

 

[fivehoursfree]

If you have a pot big enough, There is no reason not to I would think. I do partial mash, and have to do a partial boil because my pot is only 5 gallons, so I boil 3 - 3.5

 

[petep1980]

Thanks, I have a 6 gallon pot, so I can get plenty close.

 

[Shawn Hargreaves]

I partial mash and do a 3 gallon boil, because my stove isn't powerful enough to handle a full 5 gallons. I'm happy with the results at least for now, especially since I started doing a late extract addition. I just boil the wort from my mash, then add typically around 3 lb DME 5 minutes before the end, so my boil has a similar density to if I was doing AG with a full boil. The normal problems with a partial boil are too much caramelization, darker beers, and not enough hop utilisation, but late extract addition fixes all those.

If you ever want to go AG, though, a full boil becomes pretty much essential.

 

[Jonnio]

When your using extract its not a huge deal. I did lots of PM brews where I was only limited in the amount of grain I could use by my boil pot size. I made some great beer that way. Like was said, partial boil doesn't work in AG because your efficiency would be crap, you would probably use at least twice as much grain to do AG with a 3-4 gal boil.

 

[Chello]

I do AG brews in a 5 gallon pot, top off with water, and have excellent results (efficiency wise). I'm about to move from the stove top to a turkey fryer so that will change.

Now i am not utilizing my hops to the full potential but i'm still satisfied with ~75% efficiency.

 

[ifishsum]

I do 3 gallon boils and 4-5 lb partial mashes, it works well but one of these days I'll get a bigger pot and a chiller so I can try the full boil but by no means is it necessary with a partial mash. I just plan my mash and sparge water to equal the 3 gallons and start the boil. The extract gets added in the last 10 minutes and off the heat, so color and carmelization is not a problem and I think I get pretty good hop utilization. The thing I do like about partial boils is that I can pre-chill and oxygenate my top-off water, so I'm usually ready to pitch within 10-15 minutes from flame out.

 

[heinz57]

I'm going to have to agree with the sentiments expressed in this thread.

If a full boil is possible, DO IT!!

 

[Jonnio]

I do AG brews in a 5 gallon pot, top off with water, and have excellent results (efficiency wise). I'm about to move from the stove top to a turkey fryer so that will change.

Now i am not utilizing my hops to the full potential but i'm still satisfied with ~75% efficiency.

If your talking 75% brewhouse efficiency that is very impressive. A lot of people are only getting low 70s collecting 6+ gal of runnings and boiling it down to 5.