Questions on going full volume boil for first brew

[rabbz]

Hi Guys,

Doing my first brew ever and wanted to start with a full boil since it seems like that is something safe to tackle on my first attempt. Going to brew the White House Honey Ale and just wanted to confirm if I’m on the right track with the changes required.

Steep the grains in 2.5 gallons of water, not the full boil amount.

Add another 3 gallons of water for boil. Based on what I saw in the forums the 6lbs of LME is about 1/2 a gallon of volume and I might loose around 1 gallon boiling. Since this is my first attempt figure better a bit under 5 gallons then over. Can refine with other future attempts.

Then the only other change required would be changing “Add 1.5 oz East Kent Goldings hops 45 minutes before the end of the boil” to adding only 1.2oz since it should be cut by 20%. Will that small of a deduction even matter or could I just go the full amount?

Does that sound about right?

Thanks!

[65ss427]

Sounds about right to me. By your numbers, you’ll wind up with about six gallons preboil. With my system and a 60 minute boil, I would likely wind up with about 4 1/2 gallons post boil, which can easily be topped off with cold water, which will help chill your wort, and will ensure you won’t have too much volume left post boil. Without looking at an IBU calculator, it looks like you’re right in the ballpark with your hops. It’s arguable whether the 20% difference would be noticeable. Some might notice, others might not. I would notice, and I would certainly reduce the hops for the higher boil volume if it were me.

[flars]

Are you set up for moving 5 gallons of hot wort safely? Can you chill 5 gallons quickly? Those are the two things I would look at first.

[rabbz]

Thanks for the responses. Glad to hear I’m on the right track.

As far as moving the wort that remains to be seen I guess. First attempt but I’m using the same 10 gallon pot I use to make tons of tomato sauce for canning that I end up moving around to my pressure canner so don’t think it will be an issue. For cooling I made my own wort cooler that I plan to run cool water through. I’m sure a tub of icy water would be better but didn’t have a pump to keep recirculating it through.

In theory I’ll only really be moving it once its cool so that should make life easier but I’ll let you guys know how it goes. Thanks again!

[rabbz]

Well just an update I decided to go with Caribou Slobber instead first. Went ok aside from a moron mistake of adding only 2 gallons into the 2.5 I already had the grains steeping in. I’ll blame it on first time paranoia.

Ended up still having to add about a gallon of water into the carboy. Which I guess is ok, next time I know for sure 5.5 gallons should be perfect. I had decided to reduce the hops by 10% only even before I noticed my mistake, so hopefully things come out ok since the original plan was really 20% reduction.

The recipe has OG as 1.052, I only came in at 1.042 so I guess I’ll just have to see what happens in a few weeks!