If a full boil is possible, DO IT!!

[DeathBrewer]

he probably started with 5 gallons...usually when i hear "partial boil" i'm assuming they are starting with about 3 gallons.

 

[Laughing_Gnome_Invisible]

Well, I started with just under 6 gallons, but being in the cold garage for the first time, I underestimated the evaporation. After the boil I still needed to top up a bit, so I used the ice for cooling. I now have a lid for that keggle to keep the evaporation rate down.

 

[DeathBrewer]

don't cover your boil, silly...just adjust your water preboil

(topping off is ok, too.)

 

[conpewter]

Covering the boil pot allows the DMS monster to rear it's ugly head of Dimethyl sulfides. Thus making your beer taste slightly of creamed corn.

Dimethyl sulfides - Home Brewing Wiki

Although I wonder how much this really affects extract brewers since the wort is pre-boiled and may have driven off most of the SMM (precursor to DMS)

 

[Chriso]

Oi've done abouut feeftayn ex'trakt brauws thees yeer. All wif 'a tree gollon boyl. Oi've always been playsed wif da brows but dere was aw'ways a steeky, n' somtoymes twangee tayste dat stopped theyse brauws bee'n som' spayshel.

All right, since it was deemed that OB's translation was too Australian and not British enough, I'll take a crack at translating it instead!

"I've cocked abot tin an' fife of the sticky can to the bolly dodg'r infe pas' caler yea. Alls wiv' a levn'anhaf li'r boi. I pas' ha'pissed 'n grin'd wit' a smile on m'tooker wi' th' pine's but der' twang an' rang an' some kin' sicky 'ase 'o dem done ri'e ma'e them a 'alf-pine of pissa bi'er wivout a s'iny gol' s'ar on d'op of 'ems."

 

[shecky]

All right, since it was deemed that OB's translation was too Australian and not British enough, I'll take a crack at translating it instead!

"I've cocked abot tin an' fife of the sticky can to the bolly dodg'r infe pas' caler yea. Alls wiv' a levn'anhaf li'r boi. I pas' ha'pissed 'n grin'd wit' a smile on m'tooker wi' th' pine's but der' twang an' rang an' some kin' sicky 'ase 'o dem done ri'e ma'e them a 'alf-pine of pissa bi'er wivout a s'iny gol' s'ar on d'op of 'ems."

Much better. I can't understand that at all.

 

[Dloucks]

I read this thread today as I was preparing to purchase ingredients for a nut brown, and though maybe I should go ahead and splurge on a bigger pot. While searching Northern Brewers economy pots I noticed that the one they are selling for "full 5 gallon boils" was listed as 30 quarts (7.5g). I got to thinking about this and I went out and grabbed the Aluminum pot that I had sitting in the garage (never been used) and sure enough 7.5 gallons.

HAPPY DAY! So I spent the extra "splurge money" on a ESB extract kit as well. This will also accelerate my jump to all grain. it's like christmas in november!

 

[MikeG]

I brewed last Sun with an extract recipe designed for a full boil. I put 5 gal in my 30qt pot and got it to boiling. (I added 4 gal to my 1 gal steeped grain wort). I don't think I can add another gal to that, 5 was a lesson in fine tuning the flame to prevent boil over.

To cool it I put it in the sink and did two tap water cold baths that got the temp down to 110F or so. I then proceeded to use an ice bath and added a 1 gal of spring water that was in the freezer for about 4 hours. Part of the water had frozen so I cut the top off to get the ice out. That was able to get the temp down to 70 to pitch the yeast. I think it took about 30-40 min to cool.

I didn't exactly measure before adding the cold/frozen 1 gal jug directly to the wort but my fermenting bucked ended up with about 5.5 gal so I hooked a blow off tube just in case. My Monday I had lots of CO2 activity and by Tuesday morning it was just about done.

Give me a few weeks after I keg and I'll try to give some feedback on how it turns out.

 

[JacktheKnife]

Gentlemen,

I used two '2.5 gallon' boil pots and divided the wort in two,
50/50. I filled the primary with a little store bought water but the wort was mostly a full boil.
Call it a 'dern near' full boil.
It doesn't take much more propane than boiling a 5 gallon
pot and it tasted noticably better than my other batches.
Even though it was only a week old,
{I was reracking and tried a gallon.}
I will always split the boil in two pots from now on.

Good idea,
thanks.

Now what about covering ones brew pot?
I keep the lid cocked where steam can get out the side.
Not all the way down where no steam can escape.

But is this bad?


J. Winters von Knife

 

[DeathBrewer]

don't cover your pot. you want as much crap to boil off as possible and if you leave the lid on, a lot of it will be kept back by the lid.

 

[Yooper]

Now what about covering ones brew pot?
I keep the lid cocked where steam can get out the side.
Not all the way down where no steam can escape.

But is this bad?


J. Winters von Knife

I think it's ok to cover it to bring it to a boil, but once it's boiling it's best to leave it off if you can. It should be ok with extract brewing (since it's already been boiled in the processing), but it's said that allowing the steam to escape facilitates the removal of compounds like DMS that can cause off-flavors in your beer.

 

[JacktheKnife]

YooperBrew,

Very valuable information, and thanks.
I skim the brown foam off,
and just learned that a year or so ago.
And the, not 'full boil' but the 'double boil'.
ie. two brew pots and boiling about a '4 gallon wort'.
A 'dern near full boil',
how about that one?
I have only done a 'dern near full boil' once!

But 'the 'leaving off of the brew pot lid during the boil' ...
idea!
Wow,
my brew is getting better and better as we talk.
Its already pretty good,

I guess improvment of ones homebrew
can go on forever.



Thank you
J. Knife

 

[ThreeSheets]

So on the topic of "double boil" (two 2.5 gal batches) I'm trying to understand this,

So basically I would have two worts boiling at the same time, and add hops and the extract to each. What about the quantities? Do I split those in half? Lets say that the recipe for a 5 gallon batch includes:

8lbs of extract
2oz of hops

So then for each 2.5 gal wort would I add 4lbs of extract and 1oz of hops? And then combine the two worts after cooling them separately making a 5 gallon batch?

Is this correct? I don't have alot of knowledge on IBUs and all that other stuff to know if this will get the same effect of a full boil with everything in one pot.

 

[DeathBrewer]

uh...are you making two 2.5 gallon batches or just splitting one 5 gallon batch for the boil?

if you are just splitting between two pots for the boil, split your hops accordingly.

for instance. i split this RIS 08/08/08 into 3 pots. one with 4 gallons and two with 2 gallons.

i had a hop addition of 0.8 ounces. i put 0.4 ounces into the 4 gallon and 0.2 ounces into each of the 2 gallons. make sense?

 

[ThreeSheets]

uh...are you making two 2.5 gallon batches or just splitting one 5 gallon batch for the boil?

I would be splitting the 5 gallon batch into two. I'm planning on doing a brew here soon and don't have the money to get larger pot and all the other things that follow like a propane burner and wort chiller. I do have two 20qt pots and will be doing this on my stovetop with ice baths to chill. Its probably going to be more work keeping track of two warts but I'm willing to do it if it will make the end result better.

So it sounds like I have it right then, just split the original 5 gallon recipe into two equally.

 

[Ego Archive]

Covering the boil pot allows the DMS monster to rear it's ugly head of Dimethyl sulfides. Thus making your beer taste slightly of creamed corn.

Dimethyl sulfides - Home Brewing Wiki

Although I wonder how much this really affects extract brewers since the wort is pre-boiled and may have driven off most of the SMM (precursor to DMS)

That's a great idea for my "Creamed Corn" Barleywine, thanks!

But in seriousness, thanks for the reminder, I might scale my next batch down to 3 gallons, and see what comes of it.

 

[williec30]

so if i am stuck in a 5 gallon for now and want to try the 2.5 / 2.5 gallon split boil, tell me more about the steeping part. am i steeping and then transferring some of that to the other pot, adding water to make 2.5 in each and then continue on?

 

[Kilgore_Trout]

so if i am stuck in a 5 gallon for now and want to try the 2.5 / 2.5 gallon split boil, tell me more about the steeping part. am i steeping and then transferring some of that to the other pot, adding water to make 2.5 in each and then continue on?

That would work.

Or you could do two steeps.

Or you could just steep in one pot and leave the other alone.

As long as you mix it well as it goes into the fermenter it shouldn't matter.

 

[wildwest450]

Exactly how long did it take you to figure out there was a top half to this forum??

 

[Dloucks]

Just did my first batch of full boil. In fact it was a batch of firsts for me. My first liquid yeast (wyeast smack pack) my first full boil. My first batch with a functionining wort chiller (wow did that thing take some time off my night)!


Couple things didn't go as well as planned. The chiller sprung a minute leak (tiny spray stream coming from one of the hose clamps). I think most of the water went over/out of the kettle but I can't be 100% sure. And at one point I had to reach into the wort to get restart the siphon to transfer from kettle to carboy (my darned funnel turned out to be too small).

All-in-all it was a more pleasant experience than my last two batches, and thanks to prep early in the day and the wort chiller it was a much faster process. Hopefully the result is a similar experience.

 

[The Bone2]

If you use one of the keggles, and do a full boil, how to you transfer the wort to your carboy? I can say that there is no way I could lift that monster. I have a hard enough time with a 3 gallon boil getting it into the carboy. Do you siphon?

 

[nutcase]

if no bulkhead ya siphon

 

[beersydoesit]

I'm still mystified. I don't need to boil extract except to sterilize and activate the hops, and a late addition is better, but it is better to do a full boil.

I suppose late addition and a full boil both offer a reduction in carmelization of the sugars.
It would be interesting to compare late additions to full boils in an organized way to see how much can be accomplished by late additions.

Or perhaps more research.

 

[FxdGrMind]

I did a full boil... although unintentionally... from the start. I sort of did a grain wash at the same time...
Great color and I think that the boil of the wort (Full boil) helps with the flavoring. Adding just boiled/chilled water at the end (dilution of the thicker wort) I think dilutes the flavor more rather than consentrating the color and flavors... but hey that's just a Stone headed Noobie idea that materialized to justify what I did from the start.

But I must say the SG test samples are mighty tasty as the time goes by! Granted the true test will be friends when they tast it from the tap all carbed up and served with a frosty froth on top.

 

[count barleywine]

I think late additions are to mimic a full boil and get better utilization of hops. I suppose you could get more utilization from a full boil with late additions, stretch those pricy flowers a little further, which I'm all for. This is a great experiment and write-up by the OP, and although I have switched to all-grain brewing for price reasons, this write-up inspired me to try this method. The Belgian Dubbel is still primary, to be bottled soon, and the sample tasted great. But as I'm sure has been noted the true test will be after a few months in the bottle. Props again to the OP great work!

 

[Homercidal]

If splitting a 5 G batch into two parts, for boiling, split your ingredients down the middle and add equal amounts to each; hops, extract, etc.

I tried my new turkey fryer kettle on a full 5 gallon batch this last time, and needed to place it over two burners on my stove (next stove will have a much larger Beer Burner, I guarantee it!) in order to get it to boil, and then it wasn't a hard boil. Not bad, but never came close to boiling over.

Time will tell if this makes my Belgian Wit taste better or not. First brewing session with absolutely NO problems. Next one will be even better!

 

[Mustangfreak]

If I do a full boil, I'm going to need a slightly bigger pot, and one with stronger handels. At 3 gallons, I'm worried about the handles on my current SS pot.

Anyone recommend one with good strong handles and that can hold 6 gallons?

 

[Homercidal]

If I do a full boil, I'm going to need a slightly bigger pot, and one with stronger handels. At 3 gallons, I'm worried about the handles on my current SS pot.

Anyone recommend one with good strong handles and that can hold 6 gallons?

Any kettle with handles should more than hold it's filled weight.

 

[Mustangfreak]

Any kettle with handles should more than hold it's filled weight.

I just filled up mine with 5 gallons and it's obviously a 6 gallon pot, but I'm not extremely confident in the handles.

 

[DeathBrewer]

that's lame. what kind of crap company made this so we can avoid it?