Partial Boil

[RollTizzee]

I have been reading a lot of posts on this board and have obtained much help along the way using the search function and the combined knowledge of posters. Hopefully one day I can contribute.

Currently I can only do a 2.5 gal boil and top with water. I have read posts regarding a significant loss of hop utilization during partial boils. Since I don't have a large enough kettle or chiller, I am thinking about doing a two step boil. Here is my question:

If the major disadvantage of a partial boil is hop utilization can I just boil another pot of water with half the bittering hops only (no grains or malt extract)? Or, does the boiling combination of hops and extract do something special for the flavor?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Parker36]

No splitting the batch wouldn't help you here. What I would recommend doing is to get a free trial of Beersmith. You can fool around with different hops amounts and boil volumes to see the trends and make any necessary changes.