Probably a Dumb Question

jaysquared2 · Jul 28, 2017

So, I bought one of those Mr. Beer recipe kits that make the 2 gallon batches using their LBKs. But, I do not want to use the keg as I've always had leaking issues among other things with them and instead want to just use some of the 1-gallon glass carboys I have lying around instead.

The instructions for brewing this want me to only boil the extract can in 4 cups of water and then it has you put 4-quarts of cold water in the LBK, pour in the chilled wort, then top it off to the 8.5 quart mark. But since these are going to be 2 separate 1-gallon carboys, would I still following the brewing the same way (the 4 cups) and then just pour 2 cups of the wort into each carboy and top off? Or would it be fine to just do the boil with enough water to evenly split into the carboys without topping off? I know that boil size can affect IBUs but since the extract is pre-hopped would this make any difference?

Thanks in advance for any help. It's appreciated.

cswis86 · Jul 28, 2017

I would boil the whole volume and split evenly between the 2 gallon carboys. I think the effect on IBUs/flavor/color would be negligible.

Tombstone0 · Jul 28, 2017

I'd stick with the directions. The advantage to the Mr beer directions is that you don't have to chill and since you're not boiling the wort (it would change the hop profile it you did so you shouldn't) there's no reason to boil the full volume of water.

Jtk78 · Jul 28, 2017

Advice erased due to me having no experience with Mr Beer kits.

Lefou · Jul 28, 2017

If the kit has pre-hopped LME, you really don't need to boil the wort, just boil the water, stir in LME, cool down , and split between your two glass fermentors. This way your two worts are the same gravity with equal hopping.