Recipe says different method, ok?

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hardrain

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It's a stout from "Joy of Home Brewing" (papazian)

For the Toad recipe, he says to boil 1.5 gallons (instead of the 2 i normally do)...is this specific to this beer or his he using his own general method?

Also, and this is more of my questions: he says to poor the hot wort directly into 2 gallons of cold water...then add the other 1.5 later. I've always cooled the wort in an ice bath...again, is this something specific to a stout? Or should I use the ice bath?

Thanks!
 
I think it would be best to just do things how you normally do them. The only problem you might have with boiling in more water is hop utilization, but someone with more expertise will have to help you with that. Half a gallon isn't going to make much of a difference, and the more water you have the easier it is to dissolve all that extract.

As for cooling, definitely do an ice bath like you normally do. Otherwise, it isn't going to cool down fast enough.
 
As Charlie would say RDWHAHB.

I would stick to your usual method as that will be reproducible for you. As WillPall said your hop utilization will go up with the bigger volume. I did some quick calculations with brewing software and came up with about 15% higher utilization for 2 vs 1.5 gal so you could reduce your hops by that much to target a similar IBU's to what Charlie intended.

GT
 
Let us know how it turns out. That recipe is on "to try" list as soon as we finish the stout I just bottled.
 
ok, i'm going to stick with the usual method.

i'll be sure to let you know how to turns out. one disclaimer: all the brew shops in the area are missing what everyone needs to I had to alter the hops I'm using.

I dont know much about hop utilization: so bigger the volume of the wort the more 'utilized' the hops will be?
 
hardrain said:
I dont know much about hop utilization: so bigger the volume of the wort the more 'utilized' the hops will be?

In general , two factors predict hopU or hop utilization.

1. Length of boil. All other thigns being equal, if you boil hops longer you get more hop stuff in your wort. The U curve really flattens out at 60 minutes and I don't know of anyone using boil times in excess of 90 minutes. You have to compare your cost of propane to boil versus the price of the extra hops.

2. Gravity of wort. If you put all your extract in up front, you will get relatively low hopU, if you add all your extract at flameout you will get relatively high hop hopU. Neither is better the other, the point is what ends up in the glass.


Going by the Toad Spit recipe on page 206-208 of the 3rd ed, I wouldn't adjust the hops just moving to a 3 gallon boil. You might oughta adjust the hop amounts if you are adding your extract at the end of the boil.
 
It sounds like that's just Charlie's method; I'd continue doing things as you normally do. 1/2 gallon is not going to drastically affect your utilization so I doubt you need to make any adjustments.
 
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