First Full Boil.... Any advice?

skolvikes · January 17, 2012, 8:12pm

In a couple of days I am going to attempt my first full boil on my new gas stove. I got an 8 gallon pot and am going to brew the NB Bourbon Barrell Porter. I did a partial boil of the BBP several months ago and it is one of my favorites.

Is there anything special to be aware of? Any advice on how much water to initially use to account for boil off and the volume of the extract, etc? I have read about the need to adjust the hop additions in some cases but would it really be necessary for this type of beer?

Thanks!

hamiltont · January 17, 2012, 8:22pm

You’ll probably burn off ~1.5 gallons in 60 minutes so you’ll want to start off with 6.5 to 7 gallons, but it really depends on your strength of boil & etc… Hopefully your stove will do it. None of mine will, electric or gas. Watch for the hot break just like partial boils. You probably right about the hops since it’s a low hopped beer to begin with. Cheers, and happy brewing!!!

dobe12 · January 17, 2012, 8:23pm

Generally boil off is about 1 gallon per hour, but will vary depending on your pot size, boil strength and temp/humidity of where you’re brewing. And yes, you will have to adjust your hop amounts for a full boil. The easiest way would be to input your recipe into a brewing program using the boil volume that the kit advises. Make note of the IBU’s you get from each addition. Then, adjust your boil volume up to the proper amount for your boil and then adjust the hops down to get your IBU’s back to where they should be. Or just brew the same and expect a hoppier beer

skolvikes · January 18, 2012, 3:30pm

Thanks guys. I’ll post my results after brew day

nighthawk · January 18, 2012, 4:15pm

I would try to boil that amount of water 1st. Before setting aside a day to make the beer and then find out your stove cannot handle it.

mvsawyer · January 18, 2012, 6:43pm

If you have steeping grains, don’t steep them in the full 6.5-7 gallons. Just use about 1gal/lb to steep in and add up to full volume afterward.

:cheers:

chester3 · January 18, 2012, 8:28pm

I haven’t adjusted any recipes, hop-wise since doing full boils and can’t say I’ve noticed a difference. Maybe I’m just not observant enough. If I felt the need to adjust hops, I’d reduce the boil time vs QTY since I don’t want 0.1 oz hops left over. Maybe a 45 or 50 min addition instead of 60 min. Good call on steeping grains mvsawyer. Took me too long to learn that one.
:cheers:

brownsbeers · January 19, 2012, 4:44am

As someone else mentioned, make sure your stove can handle it. I have an electric stove and the size of the pot and the limited heat from the burner completely destroyed my stove–a bunch of wires melted together from the heat reflected down from the huge pot and blew up. Took me quite some time to rewire the whole stove. Not to mention the added time on brew day to get it to a boil. Just be careful, and err on the side of caution.

brownsbeers · January 19, 2012, 4:50am

Oh and I also took a piece of bamboo that I had harvested from the yard and dried, and took measurements in the pot, gallon by gallon, and marked the stick with copper wire in order to know exactly how much I had. It’s been helpful so far.

skolvikes · January 19, 2012, 4:57pm

Well the pot that I ordered (not from NB) arrived with the wrong lid so I sent it back and the Full Boil will have to wait. Instead I am going to do the NB 80 Shilling with my usual 3 gallon partial boil.

chester3 · January 21, 2012, 6:32am

When I bought my 15.5g kettle it came with pinholes around the bottom. I feel your pain. I guess I “got lucky” in that I didn’t have to send it back. They just sent out a new one (with a fryer basket). The delay in brewing is like a kick to the groin.
:cheers:

skolvikes · February 4, 2012, 4:55pm

Finally got a new pot and went ahead with the full boil. Got a great deal on a 10 gallon Aluminum pot. It covers 3 out of the 5 burners on the stove so I fired them all up and it brought 8 gallons on water to a boil in about an hour to create the oxidation layer

I then did a 6 gallon boil to do a 5 gallon batch - it worked really well but heated up my kitchen from 64 to 84 degrees. Not bad because its winter here in Minnesota but I definately understand why people are suggesting moving outside and will probably do so in the Summer months.

We brewed the NB Kolsch Extract kit because it is easy and we have brewed it in the past and I want to compare the full and partial boils. Hit the 1.48 OG on the nose!

Thanks again for all the advice and support