How much should i boil?

[Gordzilla]

Im new to brewing, ive done 3 batches so far and im addicted. I have been doing a partial boil, boiling 2gal of wort then adding 3gal of cold water. Im wondering if i increase my partial boil up to 3 or 4 even 5gal would i get better results out of my brews? Also do you guys recomend shaking the heck out of the fermenter before adding the yeast, ive been doing this and it seems to have quicker fermentation results than id expected usually showing signs within 15hrs.

 

[Golddiggie]

Last batch I brewed (I'm brewing all grain) I used the same tool I used on my mead to aerate... Was in full active fermentation in under 12 hours (somewhere in the 6-12 range, was sleeping so hard to say more precisely)... Shaking a carboy puts more strain on my bad back than I care to... Hence creating a tool to do the job that fits into my cordless drill's chuck.

I would boil the largest amount you can, for partial boils. If you can do full boil sizes, go for it. If not, then the largest volume you can actually get to a boil, and maintain without killing yourself.

As far as being addicted to brewing, welcome... We have meetings, but they're not planned very well, or too far ahead. We don't stand up and say "my name is ... and I'm a brewer"... More like, bring bottles of stuff we've brewed (and want to share), have some good food together, some laughs, a generally good time, and then stumble home... Of course, if we can get together and actually BREW something, then it's all good. :rockin:

Don't be concerned if you have batches that don't show active fermentation for more than a day. There are times when the yeast need a little quiet time before they're ready to really party... :fro: Give them the time they need to do all their jobs (2-4 weeks typically) and you'll be getting solid brews every time. Just be selective of who you share it with... Otherwise, you'll always be brewing in order to maintain your own supply (after others have raided you)...

 

[mixedbrewer]

Partial boil is something I have plenty of experience with. The main drawback to boiling only 2 gallons is that you wort might darken in color. The advantage is that you can cool your wort in seconds! Just keep in mind that the larger your boils are, the harder they are to cool if you don't have a wort chiller. 3 gallons is a happy medium for the stove-top... When you pour your cold water to top off the wort, pour it from high up to get a lot of splashing and suds. This will introduce plenty of oxygen into your wort.

 

[Gordzilla]

i do have a wort chiller and what ive been doing while adding the remainding water is using the spray nozel in the sink creates tons of bubbles....but i think im gonna go to a 3-4gal partial and just add 1gal of water through the nozel for now on

 

[baudler]

Does boiling less water affect your IBU's? I was using the Hopville calculator and my IBUs for a 5 gal boil was around 100 but dropped to 58 when I told it a 2.5 gal boil.

 

[unionrdr]

I'm fermenting my pale ale now,but it looks like it's gunna be bordering an IPA. But,anyway,I put 1 gal cool spring water in the fermenter,then poured my wort (started off as 1 1/4 gal tap water before hop addition,LME & SDME's. Then stirred again vigorously before pouring in the remaining spring water to level from as high up as I can without splashing all over the place. I pitched the yeast starter at 7:35pm last night,& by 7:10am this morning,the light brown krausen was up to the lid! Wooohoooo! So,doin it the way I did seems to be just fine so far. And the bit I siphoned off to the hydrometer was a nice,light golden brown color. If I get this right,it should push the BJCP guidelines a lil. Here's hopin...

 

[mixedbrewer]

Does boiling less water affect your IBU's? I was using the Hopville calculator and my IBUs for a 5 gal boil was around 100 but dropped to 58 when I told it a 2.5 gal boil.

There is an ongoing debate about this. I have seen some research saying it doesn't really affect it. But there will always be people who say it does. Who really knows... If you decide to double up your hop quantities because of that calculator, be ready for a bitter beer.

 

[mixedbrewer]

i do have a wort chiller and what ive been doing while adding the remainding water is using the spray nozel in the sink creates tons of bubbles....but i think im gonna go to a 3-4gal partial and just add 1gal of water through the nozel for now on

Be ready to aerate your wort if you are only adding 1 gallon of water. I dont think you will introduce enough oxygen by adding 1 gallon of cold water. Shake it for a while, use an air stone, pour it back and forth. There are a lot of ways to do it. That's another advantage to a smaller boil, you are adding oxygen rich cold water when you top off.

 

[CidahMastah]

To aerate, all you have to do is pour your chilled wort into a carboy with a funnel - the drop into the carboy causing splashing and perfect aeration, foaming up.

To chill the larger batch - drop your brew put in a snow bank and gently stir constantly (gotta burn those beer calories somehow ) I do that with full boils and chill the wort to 65-75 in 10-15 minutes.

 

[Okie12beer]

I did extract brews for about a year before making the change to AG and during that time the biggest improvement I saw was going from 2.5 gallon boils to 5 gallon boils. Now that I do 6 gallon boils for AG, any extracts that I do I will start with 6 gallon and boil down to 5 gallons over the 60 minutes. As for the hopes, I got much better utilization as I increased the water. I use about 30% less bittering hops in the full boils and the same amount either way for flavor and aroma hops. That seems to work for me. The easy way to figure it out is to brew two similar beers. One each way. Once they are ready invite some friends over to help drink it and see which one you like better.

 

[Gordzilla]

where i live we have great tap water, what ive been doing is taking the spray nozel for the tap water put it in my sanitizing bucket and then use it to top off my fermentation bucket...it really seems to add alot of oxygen. Ive decided that im gonna still do a partial boil but going to up it from the 2gal boils i was doing up to 3.5-4 gal. If you got the boiling kettle to do it why not right

 

[Yooper]

where i live we have great tap water, what ive been doing is taking the spray nozel for the tap water put it in my sanitizing bucket and then use it to top off my fermentation bucket...it really seems to add alot of oxygen. Ive decided that im gonna still do a partial boil but going to up it from the 2gal boils i was doing up to 3.5-4 gal. If you got the boiling kettle to do it why not right

Yep! My advice is simple- just always boil as much as you can boil in your pot and chill quickly. The beer will be better for it. Stirring/pouring the wort into the fermenter will aerate it, so that's a good thing to do.

 

[cincybrewer]

Maybe this has been debunked by Revvy (or others) but pouring wort into the bucket won't cause oxidation? I did this on my last brew anyway because I figured if I have to shake the wort after pitching the yeast what difference does it make if I pour it and splash the wort prior to pitching the yeast.

 

[Golddiggie]

Maybe this has been debunked by Revvy (or others) but pouring wort into the bucket won't cause oxidation? I did this on my last brew anyway because I figured if I have to shake the wort after pitching the yeast what difference does it make if I pour it and splash the wort prior to pitching the yeast.

At the start, you WANT to inject oxygen/air into the wort to help the yeast out... Post start of active fermentation (there could be a short window where you can aerate more with wort) you don't want to add oxygen to the wort... Without oxygen at the start of fermentation (reproduction phase for the yeast) you'll have a much slower fermentation...

 

[Rev2010]

I'm doing 3 gallon boils, well I usually add a bit more water for boil off, like a half gallon more. I like it because it's a good size boil and still leaves me enough room for cooling, or warming if needed, top off water.


Rev.

 

[cincybrewer]

At the start, you WANT to inject oxygen/air into the wort to help the yeast out... Post start of active fermentation (there could be a short window where you can aerate more with wort) you don't want to add oxygen to the wort... Without oxygen at the start of fermentation (reproduction phase for the yeast) you'll have a much slower fermentation...

Okay, that's what I do. So do people not pour the wort just because they don't want the trub in their fermenter?

 

[ttk420]

I did my first brew Sunday and just from reading into the process, it seemed like I should boil as much wort as I can. I did my grains in 2 gallons and then added 1.5 for the boil. It was tough making sure it did not boil over, I failed twice, and the cooling was near impossible. I tried as hard as I could, with no snow in cleveland over the weekend, and ended up aerating my wort at 90 degrees before pitching the yeast. I had activity in a couple of hours and the krausen was up to the lid by mid day monday. so, time will tell what happens in the next 2.5 weeks.

 

[LostBavarianMan]

Best way to cool your wort if you dont have snow. See here in South FLorida it is very rare that we have snow LOL so I put the boil pot in the sink add ice and watter and stir cools pretty quik. Just my 2 cents

 

[Rev2010]

put the boil pot in the sink add ice and watter and stir cools pretty quik.

Isn't it typically recommended to avoid agitating the wort before the cooldown to avoid hot side aeration?


Rev.

 

[Yooper]

Isn't it typically recommended to avoid agitating the wort before the cooldown to avoid hot side aeration?


Rev.

You don't want to whip the wort up until it's cool, but gentle stirring of the wort and the ice bath make it cool faster- keeping the cold water bath (or immersion chiller) in contact with the wort and not making hot and cold spots.

 

[cincybrewer]

I did my first brew Sunday and just from reading into the process, it seemed like I should boil as much wort as I can. I did my grains in 2 gallons and then added 1.5 for the boil. It was tough making sure it did not boil over, I failed twice, and the cooling was near impossible. I tried as hard as I could, with no snow in cleveland over the weekend, and ended up aerating my wort at 90 degrees before pitching the yeast. I had activity in a couple of hours and the krausen was up to the lid by mid day monday. so, time will tell what happens in the next 2.5 weeks.

if you are only doing a partial boil just top off with cold water and you won't have to worry about cooling the wort.

i used an immersion chiller for the first time since I now do full boils and the thing is awesome. i'd highly recommend it.