Partial or full boil for Caribou slobber

[Chet zaremski]

I have a 15 gallon kettle and would like to do a full boil of 6 gallons to allow for boil off.
Speciality grains are ok to steep at cooler temps as long as it does not reach 170? After steeping grains, I will bring to boil and add malt extract and DME away from heat. My question is should my hop additions be the same timing and same amount? I am also curious if it is ok to top off with water to achieve 5.5 gallons in primary. Thanks!

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

Yes, it's ok to top off water to get to 5.5 gallons at the start of primary. Recipe software is a good way to determine the revised estimated IBUs - you may find you want to add some bittering hops.

Good resources for understanding the variations of extract-based partial boils are either Palmer's How to Brew, 4th edition (howtobrew.com is out of date in this area) or Colby's Methods of Modern Homebrewing (new in 2018).

 

[RM-MN]

Your specialty grains are probably fine to seep somewhere between 100F and boiling. However, best practice is to steep them between 148 and 158 because if you can reliably do that, you can do all grain brewing.

Only add half of the liquid malt extract at the beginning of the boil and the rest at the end. The malt extract will already be a little darker than you want for your beer so there is no point making it darker which boiling it will do from the Maillard reaction.

The point of the hop additions at specific times is to get the correct amount of bitterness for your beer and flavor and aroma.

 

[Travis K. Jansen]

Palmer's How to Brew, 4th edition (howtobrew.com is out of date in this area) or Colby's Methods of Modern Homebrewing (new in 2018).

I bought the Kindle version of the 4th edition for $9 on Amazon. It's a great read...

 

[Chet zaremski]

Thank you! I appreciate the help.

 

[ncbrewer]

If you do a full boil when the recipe calls for a partial boil, it will turn out more bitter than designed. You can use any of several resources to find the hop utilization and resulting bitterness - How to Brew (paper or on-line), brewing software, etc. are good. It's generally best to leave the late additions as per the recipe and adjust only the early additions.