So how bad did I screw it up?

[BostonHomeBrew]

So my extract recipe called for 3 gallon (midwest supplies) boil, but from the Palmer book I saw that using as much water as you can up to ~6gal is best, so that's what I did. Only I didn't realize that I needed to adjust the hops so that the level of utilization would be correct... it was 1oz nugget for 60 minutes on a stout. Will it be a funky hoppy irish stout? Or should the ibus be low enough not to make a difference? I don't have beersmith (yet) so I can't run the calcs...

Anyway, live and learn... it's not like I'm not going to drink it anyway...

BHB

 

[sudsmcgee]

It will be perfectly fine. The utilization will have changed a little, but it will still be close to the intended recipe. Don't worry about it.

 

[Dogphish]

figure it out yourself http://beercalculus.hopville.com/recipe

BE SURE TO SET THE BOIL SIZE AND BATCH SIZE CORRECTLY (you already indicated 6 gal boil size, and i assume you did a 5 gal batch size)

 

[Grumpybumpy]

1oz of anything won't result in anything too bitter. I wouldn't worry too much. Enjoy!

 

[Tall_Yotie]

It is fine! If it was a 5 gallon batch and you decided to do a full boil, then more power to you!

 

[daksin]

you're good. I would say the only time boil gravity matters with regards to hop utilization is when the recipe is for a full boil and the beer is very hoppy (the opposite situation to you). In that case, you wouldn't get the bitterness you were looking for just because there's a limit to the concentration of isomerized alpha acids in wort.

In your case, where you boiled more liquid than was called for, the IBU difference won't hurt the beer IMO. If there is a difference in utilization (opinions on this differ, I don't think there is), it is negligible.

 

[BOBrob]

tastybrew.com has a free calculator to build any brew.

 

[BostonHomeBrew]

Thanks guys! Man, HBT is awesome... I post a question late at night and get 6 replies in the next few hours!!

Good to hear that my stout will be ok. I guess things might be a little different if I were talking about a double ipa, eh? Although I have to say that the wait is killing me. I'm going 2 weeks in primary and 2 weeks in secondary (may not be necessary I know) and then 3 weeks in bottle, so it's been so rough looking at the bucket every day knowing that it's still more than a month before I can enjoy the brew. I'm going to start a new batch this weekend just to keep myself busy and fill the pipeline...

And thanks to Dogphish and BOBrob to pointing out those beer calculators. Most extract kits I've seen have recipes assuming a partial boil, so this ought to come in handy.

Again, you guys rock! Looking forward to talking more...
BHB