Currently I’m just doing 5 gallon extract kits. Wondering if there is a positive/negative to boiling more than 2.5 gallons and then adding less after to reach 5 gallons total. I have an 8 gallon pot, so plenty more room.
Yes, there are definite benefits in doing full volume boils over partial volume. Better hop utilization is one. More control over the degree of melanoidin formation is another. Also less chance of adding contamination with that top-off water(granted that chance is slim, but it’s possible).
And I think there’s something else I’m missing, that’s escaping me now…
on the plus side
You get less darkening.
Neither positive nor negative
Hop utilization changes so if you go for a full boil look at the corresponding All Grain kit, and use the hop amounts from there.
Maybe negative depending on your point of view
More volume makes it harder to chill. If you have have a good chiller, no big deal.
Negative
Need a propane burner? Can’t use the kitchen stove any more?
It will definitely make you start wondering, “If I can do this, why don’t I just go all grain” at which point you start thinking, cooler, grain mill, RIMS system…
Gear Aquisition Syndrome can kill relationships…
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after brewing about 20 beers now and brewing following the recipy had a brew session at my house with a all grain brewer he gave me lots of tips to percfect the brew session one thing he did teach me start the boil with five gallon water in our brew kettle .and steep the grains in a other brew pot about 1 gallon of water . we do only extract kit brewing reason i do live on a tropical island can not ship fresh grains the price of shipping to much . well any way i do late add of the lme as well. onces i am done with the boil did lose about one gallon of water during the boil. any way to cool the worth down we do use about four bags of ice in about five to ten min i can transfer the worth to the fermenting alloy we do end up excact with five gall of worth .so must say this works for me using more water in the beginning only issue might be it takes big longer to get to the right water boil temp. but while we wait drink a few beers
This sounds like a great idea. I imagine that I would be able to control the steeping grains temp more closely on the stove and transfer to the boil kettle outside. In fact I could steep the grains while I am waiting for the boil kettle to get up to temp and it may cut down on the brew day time. I am gonna give this a try for my next batch.
Has anyone else done this method?
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