Preparing For Extract & Steeped Grain Brew - Need Help Please

[Jiffster]

I'm going to be doing a 5 gallon extract brew with some steeped grains this weekend. I was planning to do a partial boil and then add my top off water because I only had a 5 gallon brew pot.

However, my new 11 gallon brew pot will be here tomorrow and I was just thinking about using it and converting the recipe to a full boil.

This is my 2nd batch (ever) so I'm not sure how to even go about doing that.

The recipe I'm using is from "How To Brew". (see pic)

Should I do a full boil instead of partial boil?

If so, how would the process change (i.e. how much water to start with)?

 

[Sailingeric]

Since I got a bigger pot I do full boils. I fill the pot to 5 gallons, bring to steeping temp, remove the heat, steep 20 to 30 minutes, pull the grains out, bring to boil, turn off the heat, add the extract, bring to boil, then add the hops per the schedule. Once I put in it in my fermenter, I will top off to 5 gallons. With doing full boils you may need to adjust your hop amounts due to better utilization, but you can use an online calculator such as Brewers Friend to adjust the hops.

 

[Jiffster]

I used the online IBU calculator. Assuming I used it correctly, I got the following results for a 5 gallon boil and a 7 gallon boil.

Knowing I'll have some loss to trub and boil off, wouldn't I want to go ahead and start with 6-7 gallons to end up at 5?

 

[ncbrewer]

I tentatively agree that boil gravity affects hop utilization, but there's been considerable controversy about it over the last several years. I'm constantly watching forum threads and articles to see the issue gets resolved. I'd recommend adjusting for the higher utilization, but that's just me.

Also, if you're boiling on your stove, test in advance to be sure you can get a good boil with the larger kettle.

 

[ncbrewer]

Knowing I'll have some loss to trub and boil off, wouldn't I want to go ahead and start with 6-7 gallons to end up at 5?

For full boils, most brewers start with enough volume to end up with the target, so no top-off water is needed. You can boil water as a test to find out your boil-off rate. As far as trub, many brewers transfer everything into the fermenter.

 

[Jiffster]

I have a brand new Bayou Classic SQ14

 

[Jiffster]

I assume I could boil say 7 gallons of water for an hour to test (like you said) to see how much water I lose in an hour and then assume .75 to turn loss and calculate accordingly?

 

[theseeker4]

I assume I could boil say 7 gallons of water for an hour to test (like you said) to see how much water I lose in an hour and then assume .75 to turn loss and calculate accordingly?

That is what I did, but I don't have much trub loss since I strain the hops out and everything else goes in the fermenter. Do a test boil, determine your boil off rate, use that plus your planned fermenter loss as your starting volume. When you have a large trub loss, remember that your OG will be lower if you add water to compensate for the trub loss. If you don't want the OG to take a hit, you can either up the fermentables to compensate to keep the OG the same, or take the hit in final number of bottles produced and don't compensate for trub loss with extra water.

 

[Jiffster]

Sound advice Seeker. I don't want my OG lower to gain volume.

I'm not sure how to determine planned fermenter loss. I've only got 1 brew under my belt.

I will be steeping the grains in a bag as well as putting my hips in bag.

I guess the best bet would be to determine my boil off amount, start my batch accordingly based on that number (i.e. 1 gallon loss = 6 gallon start) and then use top off water to bring final volume to 5 gallons as long as it doesn't lower my OG?

That being said, let's say I have 4 gallon of wort after my boil. How would I determine how much water I can add to achieve my OG?

 

[Sailingeric]

After a few brews you will get a feel for you trub loss. I strain as well but still get about 4.7 gallons of bottled beer out of a 5 gallon batch.

 

[ncbrewer]

Since trub volume is an issue for you, you could try transferring everything into the fermenter. Check out this experiment: http://brulosophy.com/2014/06/02/the-great-trub-exbeeriment-results-are-in/