Partial Boil Method (for an extract brew)

[Jkonn63]

Before you say it, I KNOW that you are not gonna recommend a partial boil. BUT, in preparation for my first brew, I took some advice and tested out my apartment sized stove to see if it would be able to bring 5 gallons of water to a boil.

It failed.

So, I have a question regarding the proper method to do a partial boil with an extract kit.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I steep ALL of the barley and malt in the 2.5 gallons for the 20 minutes, then add 1/2 the hops, and 1/2 the liquid malt extract, boil, and add the other half with 10 minutes left and add the remaining 2.5 gallons to the primary?

**Would it be wrong to do this method: Steep all of the barley and malt in 5 gallons, then divide it into two separate containers and boil them simultaneously with half of the malt extract and half of the hops in each pot?

 

[Transamguy77]

I can't boil 5 gallons either so I start with 3 gallons, steep all my grains and after I add 1/2 my LME at the beginning and the rest with 5 to 10 left in my boil and Follow direction for my hop additions whatever it calls for. Depending on what your recipe is I typically only have to add 1.5 to 2 gallons of top off to bring me to just over 5 gallons, I also put my top off in the fridge to help cool my wort.

 

[Fid]

Yes you would want to steep all of your grains in the water. However, it is good practice to keep your steeping water to grain ratio at 1 gallon of water per 1 pound of grains. After the steep you can add the remainder of the water that you are going to use for the boil.

I'm not entirely sure what you are referring to when you are talking about steeping the malt... if you are talking about steeping the malt extract... No, you do not want to do that at all. Add your malt extract when your boil starts.

You can add all of the malt extract at the beginning of the boil if you like or you can split it up into increments. There are some suggestions that boiling the malt extract can alter the final color of your beer and make it slightly darker than desired.

As far as the hop additions go, you're going to want to follow the hop schedule on your recipe. Typically hop additions are slightly more complicated than half at the beginning and half with 10 minutes left but there is a chance that your recipe could call for that. Boiling hops for different durations of time allow you to utilize different aspects of the hops. Generally stated, the hops that you boil the longest will be your bittering hops, hops that add in the halfway range of your boil are flavoring hops, and hops added towards the end of the boil are aroma hops.

As for top of water... Yes, boil your wort, cool it down, add it to your carboy and then top the carboy off with water until the final volume reaches 5 gallons. Don't forget you will surely loose some water due to evaporation so you're gonna need a bit more than 5 gallons of water total.


Basic brewing steps:
Steep Grains
Boil Wort
Follow hop schedule
Cool wort
Add wort to fermentor
Add top off water
Pitch yeast when an acceptable temp has been reached.

Everything stated above are brief generalizations as to how things work. To find out more about how and why all of this works the way it does, pick yourself up a brewing book or dig deeper into forums as all of these aspects of brewing have been thoroughly discussed on here.

Everyone has their own methods that work well for them and as you continue to brew you will begin to develop your own methods.

Cheers! and happy brewing.

 

[Fid]

Heres a hop utilization chart that is a nice reference for hop additions.

(From brewsupplies.com)

As you can see, peak AROMA is about 7 minutes after the start of the boil.
Peak FLAVOR is about 20 minutes into the boil and peak BITTERNESS is arrived at about 60 minutes.

Hops boiled for 20 minutes yeild maximum flavor but all the aroma has dissipated.
By 40 minutes, all the flavor has disipated.
http://www.brewsupplies.com/hop_characteristics.htm

 

[Jkonn63]

I'm not entirely sure what you are referring to when you are talking about steeping the malt... if you are talking about steeping the malt extract... No, you do not want to do that at all. Add your malt extract when your boil starts.

Sorry for the confusion, I'm brewing a coffee stout that has caramel and chocolate malt mixed in with the barley. I know to add the LME when the boiling starts.

Thanks for all the suggestions!

 

[jaycount]

Heres a hop utilization chart that is a nice reference for hop additions.

(From brewsupplies.com)

As you can see, peak AROMA is about 7 minutes after the start of the boil.
Peak FLAVOR is about 20 minutes into the boil and peak BITTERNESS is arrived at about 60 minutes.

Hops boiled for 20 minutes yeild maximum flavor but all the aroma has dissipated.
By 40 minutes, all the flavor has disipated.
http://www.brewsupplies.com/hop_characteristics.htm

I think this chart is in "minutes from the end of the boil". Not the beginning...

Your bittering hops will be the hops you add at the beginning of the boil, with flavor coming near 15-20 minutes from the end and aroma coming within 0-10 minutes of the end.

Regardless, if you're doing a kit, just follow the kit's hop schedule.

 

[Jkonn63]

I think this chart is in "minutes from the end of the boil". Not the beginning...

Your bittering hops will be the hops you add at the beginning of the boil, with flavor coming near 15-20 minutes from the end and aroma coming within 0-10 minutes of the end.

Regardless, if you're doing a kit, just follow the kit's hop schedule.

I think that is what he was saying, because the aroma hops peak after boiling for 10 minutes, add them at the end so they don't dissipate.

 

[Fid]

Exactly, the chat sorta reads best if you look at it backwards. It's a nice way to grasp an understanding of why a recipe your following was created the way it was. Also nice for tweaking a recipe to add more hop aroma, bitterness, or what have you

 

[unionrdr]

I use 3lb bags of plain DME besides a bittering only LME can. So I add half the DME to the boil,& do my Flavor/aroma hop additions @ 20-25 mins. Aroma additions @ 5 or 10 minutes. Then add the remaining DME & LME can. Then dry hop for more aroma,as in APA's & IPA's. The late malt additions Keep colors lighter,flavors cleaner. Along with good ferment temps,flavors stay clean.