Late Addition/pot size question

[Redpiper]

So I've read quite a few threads on late addition and its benefits, but still have a question about implementing it.

Planning on doing a Sierra clone - using 6 pounds of DME and a pound of steeped Carmel 60. I have a four gallon pot. Would like to keep the color light just for aesthetics (brew is for my brothers -want to impress and all that).

So, could I do my steeping (I think that would be about 1.5 gallons), then add 2 pounds of the DME and do about a 2.5 gallon boil or so. Then add the remaining DME at flameout?

Okay, so of course I CAN do that, but am I losing much hop utilization with the smaller boil? I'd do a bigger boil, but need to leave room for the displacement of adding the remaining DME. Don't want the nightmare of not having room to add it at the end.

Or am I better off just doing the maximum boil size with all the DME in up front and never mind the color?

Thanks!

 

[cvstrat]

Hop utilization doesn't depend on wort volume or makeup to my knowledge. It's based on the time it's submerged in a boiling liquid of whatever sort. Boiling an oz of hops in a gallon of water vs 5 should theoretically yield the same amount of extraction. I would speculate that once you add 4 gallons to the 1 gallon you'd have the same IBUs as if you did a straight up 5 gallon boil. I could of course be wrong, and if someone knows otherwise I'd love to learn about it.

If you're intending to have the Sierra there as a side-by-side comparison I would urge you to attempt to match the color as close as possible. It's like eating a piece of fruit candy with your eyes closed, it's hard to tell what flavor it is. As soon as you see that it's green you know it's sour apple though. If you were to color a cherry candy blue people might guess raspberry. Does the color make a real difference? No. But it's lighter in color people will say it's lighter in flavor, if it's too dark people will say it tastes stronger. Unless of course they brew and realize this isn't necessarily relevant.

If you aren't doing a comparison the color won't matter. People won't remember exactly what SRM the original is.

 

[Strangebird]

No, the bigger the boil, the more efficient your hops utilization is. A partial boil actually requires more hops to get the same IBU. Let me see if I can find the write-up.

 

[Strangebird]

Well apparently there a lot of debate on this. Check out this thread:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/hop-utilization-178668/

According to the thread above, it comes down to break material. So if you're using extract, there shouldn't be much difference.

 

[GillandCo]

Interesting Thread...If you used the same amount of hops in a one gallon batch versus 5 theoretically you would have a much stronger hop presence in the 1 gallon batch...I understand thats not what your doing and you would essentially be topping off the wort at the end of the boil.

It would be my advice to read through the above thread...There's allot of opinions so you may have to just give it a go. More than likely you will be happy with the results, as long as your sanitary practice is good and you have a solid "Clone" recipe.

I don't see anything wrong with doing it how you explained. But im no chemist.

 

[northernlad]

It depends mostly on the gravity of the wort you are boiling. If you deduct extract to add later but reduce boil volume, then you may be pretty close to the same gravity so it probably won't make a difference.

 

[Redpiper]

Very interesting thread up above. Here's what I'm going to take a way from it:

"James over at Basic Brewing (in conjunction with Chris at BYO) recently did some extract beer experiments where they compared partial and full boil worts and had the resultant beers lab tested. No difference at all in hop utilization, just as the new science Palmer reported said."

So, I'm going to try the late addition method. Recipe is the extract version of one I took from another site. Dang, can't find it at the moment, but the poster had an AG version and received help on it from the head brewer over at Sierra. Someone here linked to it and I read all 37 pages - whew. But there was an extract recipe there that I'm using. A key ingredient was Yakima Magnum hops...

I'll post results eventually.

 

[BeerJorge]

You want to add your Late DME 15 minutes prior to the end of the boil to pasteurize it...

 

[Strangebird]

If you can find the link to that 37 page thread, I'd love to read it.

 

[Redpiper]

Here's the link to the long SN clone post.


As far as adding the DME at 15 minutes before the boil. I've never understood how that works because it kills the boil. Do you bring it back to a boil and then continue the countdown? Most folks seem to think there's enough temp at flameout to keep the DME clean.