Full boil question/chiller question

I was doing some reading, and discovered that a full boil is better for hop utilization. The forum I was reading also went on to say that all grain is better for hoppier beers, but I’m not financially ready to make the all grain plunge. I do have a ten gallon kettle, and a burner so it would be easy for me to do a full 5 gallon boil. I was wondering if there are any other adjustments I would have to make, or if I just use more water and keep the same recipe? I have an extract IPA kit.

This will be my first brew day outside, I have finally been kicked out of the kitchen due to boil overs. I have no control over the temperature of my hose water. The water is cool not cold though. Will my wort chiller still be effective? Any suggestions on what else I could do?

[quote=“Blackhawk1”]I was doing some reading, and discovered that a full boil is better for hop utilization.
You will get greater hop utilization with a full boil. You can get the same IBUs with a partial boil by adjusting the amount of hops.
The forum I was reading also went on to say that all grain is better for hoppier beers, but I’m not financially ready to make the all grain plunge.
Said by an all grain brewer.
I do have a ten gallon kettle, and a burner so it would be easy for me to do a full 5 gallon boil. I was wondering if there are any other adjustments I would have to make, or if I just use more water and keep the same recipe? I have an extract IPA kit.
You can keep the same recipe. If the recipe was designed for a partial boil the hop utilization will be different with a full boil.

This will be my first brew day outside, I have finally been kicked out of the kitchen due to boil overs.
Pay more attention to your boil. There are many brewers who have never had a boil over.
I have no control over the temperature of my hose water. The water is cool not cold though. Will my wort chiller still be effective? Any suggestions on what else I could do?[/quote]
What is the temperature of your water from the outside faucet?

You can reduce your hops slightly, or keep the same. Everything else is the same. It will obviously take longer to cool a full batch and you don’t get the free cooling of dumping a few gallons of water from the fridge in to cool the last bit. It depends on what your actual water temperature and chilling target is, but if you water is ‘cool but not cold’ it is going to take a long time to cool the last few degrees. I got a cheap submersible fountain pump at the hardware store. Once I get down to 100 F or so, I throw some ice in a bucket and use the fountain pump to recirculate ice water through the immersion chiller. This really helps speed up the process. Try your normal way first, but if it is too slow, ice may help.

Hop utilization will be about 10% better with a full boil. If you want to reduce the bittering (60 minute) hops by 10%, you can, but it probably won’t be a noticeable difference. The biggest benefit of full-volume boil is lighter colored beer. If you want your extract beer to come out yellow and not amber or darker, this is a good way to help achieve that.

If you are steeping grains, you want to do that in a reduce volume first, so that you don’t extract tannins from the husks. But other than that and the need for more effective chilling, the process is pretty much the same.

If you do find that your chiller won’t get the beer down to pitching temperature, you can go ahead and just transfer the beer to a fermentor and wait till the next day to pitch the yeast. As long as your sanitation is good, you are not increasing your risk of infection, and the wort will have time to cool off that way.

You could check to see if there’s an AG version of your kit. If so, I would use the hop schedule from the AG version for a full-volume extract boil.

You could easily to all grain BIAB in a 10 gallon pot. I do in a 9 gallon. You just use similar mash ratios as traditional mash and sparge by pouring the sparge water over your grain after pulling it to get your boil volume.

You can get a bag for 25-30 bucks and you’re in business. Maybe there are other reasons you’re not ready but don’t let the equipment hurdle stop you. You really don’t need that much.

Google BIAB or brew in a bag for more info.

Thanks everyone for all of your help. I ended up brewing on the stove again because the Mrs. was at work and I had the day off. I did do the full boil though, and it went very well. I did steep my grains in the full boil at about 160 degrees F like the kit called for. I didn’t realize it would be an issue if the temp was correct. Also, the info that I gathered said that hop utilization could improve as much as 50%, so I guess I got duped.

I have thought about the biab method, would I need two burners if I’m going to be outside (one for mash and one for sparge), or am I thinking too much?