I have been using the Brewers Best kits and they call for a 2.5 gallon 60 minute boil with bittering hops added at the beginning of the boil and aroma hops added for the last 10 minutes. Then you are supposed to add 2.5 gallons of cooled water prior to pitching the yeast. My question is can I just use a 10 gallon pot and boil all 5 gallons at once? So unless there is a compelling reason to use two pots Id like to simplify it and just use the one.
Pot / Boil question
- Thread starter GRHunter
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Brewmasters Warehouse
Well-Known Member
Two reasons:
1. Chilling the wort. With a full boil you have to have a way to efficiently cool that much wort. An ice bath will work, but it will take a while. Maybe throw it outside since it is most likely cold in MI.
2. Actually boiling it. Many stoves do not have the ability to boil 5 gallons. If your does then this is not a problem of course.
EDIT: Doing a full boil will also increase your hops utilization making your beer more hoppy than the recipe intends.
1. Chilling the wort. With a full boil you have to have a way to efficiently cool that much wort. An ice bath will work, but it will take a while. Maybe throw it outside since it is most likely cold in MI.
2. Actually boiling it. Many stoves do not have the ability to boil 5 gallons. If your does then this is not a problem of course.
EDIT: Doing a full boil will also increase your hops utilization making your beer more hoppy than the recipe intends.
Gitana
Active Member
Hi!
I'm a beginner myself (haven't even started really), so you might want to wait for somebody more experienced to answer, but from what I have read the reason for the cool water addition seems to be to lower the temperature of the wort before pitching the yeast. If you boil it all together then you have to wait until the temperature is low enough or go through some other process to lower it quickly before doing that.
It seems to be simpler to add the cold water.
Good Luck!
I'm a beginner myself (haven't even started really), so you might want to wait for somebody more experienced to answer, but from what I have read the reason for the cool water addition seems to be to lower the temperature of the wort before pitching the yeast. If you boil it all together then you have to wait until the temperature is low enough or go through some other process to lower it quickly before doing that.
It seems to be simpler to add the cold water.
Good Luck!
schadelh
Active Member
From what I understand full boils are the way to go. The only reason you should do a concentrated boil is if you don't have a big enough pot to do a full boil.
You may have to adjust your hop amounts, however, as a full boil will supposedly utilize more of your hops' alpha oils than an extract boil.
You may have to adjust your hop amounts, however, as a full boil will supposedly utilize more of your hops' alpha oils than an extract boil.
mojotele
Well-Known Member
What you want to do is indeed a really good idea. Full boils, as they are called, are preferable for several reasons:
1. You get better utilization out of your hops and therefore have to use less of them. Saves money.
2. You get a more accurate gravity reading before you pitch your yeast since the sugars/starches are evenly distributed throughout the wort.
3. Your wort will darken less during the boil.
However, there are a few obstacles to overcome in order to do a full boil:
1. You need a large pot, at least 7 gallons. Remember, you will have to boil more than 5 gallons in order to end up with 5 gallons at the end of the boil. And, unless you use Fermcap or something similar, you need some headspace so the pot doesn't boil over.
2. You need a fast way of cooling the wort. Sure, partial boils you can cool in an ice bath. But, you have a lot more stuff to cool now. That means an immersion chiller, counterflow chiller, or something similar. You can also stick it outside in cold weather in a large drum filled with water, much like you would an ice bath. People have had success with that. That will only work during the cold months of the year, though! And, depending on how full your pot is, it can be a really bad idea to carry around 5 gallons of boiling hot wort. Having that slosh on you can cause some pretty nasty burns.
3. You need a heat source that can bring 6 gallons of wort or so to a nice boil.
4. You need to adjust your hops or else you'll end up with a beer that is much more bitter than you wanted. The easiest way to do this is by using software such as BeerSmith or ProMash.
1. You get better utilization out of your hops and therefore have to use less of them. Saves money.
2. You get a more accurate gravity reading before you pitch your yeast since the sugars/starches are evenly distributed throughout the wort.
3. Your wort will darken less during the boil.
However, there are a few obstacles to overcome in order to do a full boil:
1. You need a large pot, at least 7 gallons. Remember, you will have to boil more than 5 gallons in order to end up with 5 gallons at the end of the boil. And, unless you use Fermcap or something similar, you need some headspace so the pot doesn't boil over.
2. You need a fast way of cooling the wort. Sure, partial boils you can cool in an ice bath. But, you have a lot more stuff to cool now. That means an immersion chiller, counterflow chiller, or something similar. You can also stick it outside in cold weather in a large drum filled with water, much like you would an ice bath. People have had success with that. That will only work during the cold months of the year, though! And, depending on how full your pot is, it can be a really bad idea to carry around 5 gallons of boiling hot wort. Having that slosh on you can cause some pretty nasty burns.
3. You need a heat source that can bring 6 gallons of wort or so to a nice boil.
4. You need to adjust your hops or else you'll end up with a beer that is much more bitter than you wanted. The easiest way to do this is by using software such as BeerSmith or ProMash.
Arkador
Well-Known Member
get a big pot (5gal batch starts at 6gal when you conciser boil-off) boil it on a turkey fryer, get an imersion chiller to cool it, and check your recipe variant for full boil, you usually only use 75-80% of your hops on a fill boil due to better efficiency.
My beer got better when i went from partial to full boil.
My beer got better when i went from partial to full boil.
Opps I just did a full boil using a kit from Midwest and didnt adjust the hops.. Will this stuff be drinkable?? I don't want the bitter beer face on my first sip.
mojotele
Well-Known Member
Opps I just did a full boil using a kit from Midwest and didnt adjust the hops.. Will this stuff be drinkable?? I don't want the bitter beer face on my first sip.
Depends on too many variables to say, like how much bitterness you can take, how much malt was in the recipe, how many hops were in the recipe to begin with, etc.
You'll just have to wait and see now! You can always dilute it with a similar beer that is less hoppy.
Rookie mistakes..
Well the kit was Amarillo Pale Ale. Maybe with the full boil it will become more like an IPA.. If so that would be sweet! I love me an IPA.
Guess time will tell!
Thanks for the quick response.
mojotele
Well-Known Member
No problem, man! Sometimes these mistakes can be happy mistakes and you stumble upon something you really like. If you like IPAs, I'm sure you won't dislike the product. I'm thinking it will be along the lines of a not-very-bitter IPA at most, probably more like a more bitter than usual pale ale.
btprice2001
Active Member
You wouldn't need two pots; you pour the wort into your fermenter, and then you pour the chilled water into the fermenter.
TheFlatline
Well-Known Member
You'll be fine. I started doing full boils off of kits and didn't notice a terrible amount of difference.
I moved to all grain shortly thereafter.
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