Can I take a 5 Gallon Partial Boil kit and do a FULL Boil on it?
If so, how would I go about that? I know most kits tell you to use about 2 Gallons of water, Bring to a certain temp, steep the grains in the bag and hold for 30 to 60 minutes, Then bring to a boil, Take off the stove and Stir in the Syrup, then bring to a boil and do your hop additions. Then, of course, pour on your other 3.5 gallons give or take to cool down and pitch yeast.
Could I just bring up about 6 Gallons of water or even 5.5 Gallons of water for Boil off, Steep my bag for the desired length of time, Then add the syrup in and bring to a boil for the hour and add in hops, Then chill and pitch?
You can do that. Hop oil isomerization might be a little more efficient resulting in a 5 to 10% increase in IBUs but that may not be noticeable, or objectionable, in the finished beer. You can also add just enough extract, DME first, at the beginning of the boil for a 1.040 wort to produce a lighter colored beer. Heating extract which has already been heated in production will add a deeper color to the beer. Add the remainder of the extract with about 15 minutes left in the boil. When you boil the wort it is not necessary to have small volcanoes erupting throughout the 60 minute boil. Applying less heat to the boil kettle maintaining a low boil will help to produce a less dark beer.
Start with about 5.5 gallons in the boil kettle until you are sure of the boil off rate with your equipment.
Thanks so much for the info. I thought it was possible. What I have come to realise, Not knowing if it is the water I use, or if it was something else. Is that NO Matter what Beer I brew from a Kit, It’s REALLY Bitter, I brewed a Blonde Ale which was my last one, and it was so bitter I couldn’t hardly drink it.
Now, I’ve been to a Brewfest few weeks ago and I’ve tried ales and Stouts, and Wheat Beers and some that was 80 IBU, and they were NOWHERE near as bitter as I expected them to be.
I was told by someone that, when you do the partial boils that the esters or something to that effect won’ dilute which results in a highly bitter beer. And every since then, I stopped doing extract beers for awhile cause I couldn’t tolerate teh bitteriness.
I’m in the process of saving money (Low Income) to get a Heating Element and such to convert my 15.5 Gallon Keg into an Electric Brew Kettle so I can do full Boils and even BIAB.
What are your Thought on the Partial Boils and Dilution Rates of the esters or hop oils or whatever would cause the extreme bitterness?
Extreme bitterness could be due to tannin extraction from the steeping grains. Tannin extraction is more related to pH than temperature. Steeping grains in large volumes of water can increase the likely hood that that grains will not buffer the volume of water to reduce the pH below 6.0.
Another way to produce a very bitter beer is to boil prehopped LME in a kit. Give us some details on the last beer you brewed that was to bitter to drink.
OK, first, esters have nothing to do with it here. Just wanted to clarify that. Also, hop utilization is related to the gravity of the wort you’re boiling. IOW, the stronger the wort, the less bitterness you extract from the hops. In a partial boil, the wort is stronger (since you’ll dilute it later), so you should get less bitterness, not more. So, whatever you were tasting, the partial boil didn’t make the beer more bitter.
You stated that you brewed a beer you could hardly drink. IMHO that defeats the reason to homebrew. Please post some more info and some one here will help you so you may enjoy your beers. It appears you have issues that a full boil may not help, perhaps the knowledge on this board can pin-point the reason quickly. Info would be ingredients, how much and what hops (and boil times), What grains are you steeping and how long, yeast, and what are you using for water.
The extract kits from my LHBS have you steep the grains using a small portion of the water (1.5-1.75 gallons). After the steep is done then add more water and bring to a boil after adding extract (still not full volume @ 3.75 gallons). Then chill and top off with water. I too have been noticing a twang or bitterness in the all my recent brews. I was just using soft tap water, I just recently switched to getting RO water and using RO for just about everything in the brew (except maybe a SNS yeast starter). I have the first batch using RO a week out from being bottled and I am hoping to find better results. I also just noticed the end of my auto-siphon has a bunch of fine cracks or scratches in the bottom 3", so I might be picking up something there too. Time to invest in a carboy cap and a SS Racking cane.
When I first started, the LHBS made their own kits as you waited. I had to weigh out the hops when brewing. I won a kit from a national supplier recently as a door prize, and the hops were ‘pre-measured’ with no info on the packs other than the name. It was horrible bitter.
Do you have to weigh your own hops from a kit, or are they pre-measured? Sorry, I haven’t done a kit in years. (other than the door prize kit)
The 5 gallon kits I use come with 1 oz packages of hops which need to be measured out according to the hop addition schedule on the recipe. This applies to both the kits from NB and LHBS that I have used. I have however seen smaller 1 gallon or Mr. Beer kits that come with the hops pre-measured.
After reading this post I have a question. Could I take a 5 gallon brew kit, and split it in half? What I mean is since you lose about 1/2 gallon of liquid during the boil, start with 2 independent kettles with 2.75 gallons in each, so as you have a total of 5.5 gallons, and after boiling be left with 5 gallons. In one kettle you boil your specialty grains and hops, and in the other kettle you boil only the liquid extract. Therefore, you get the maximum utilization from your hops, since the gravity of the boil won’t be to high due to your boiling the extract in a separate kettle. And you will still achieve the hot break in both kettles. After the required time for the boil, after flame out, and cooling both kettles, combine both kettles in the primary fermenter. Why not just boil in a kettle large enough to accommodate over 5 gallons??? Because I only have a 5 gallon kettle, I want to experiment, and want to try to squeeze as much out of my hops as I can.
You can use two kettles. Don’t boil the grains though. Grains are usually just meant for steeping unless it is a partial mash kit. Boiling the grains will extract tannins. It would be better to add extract to both kettles to have a wort of 1.040 SG in each. Add half the hops to each kettle to optimize hop oil isomerization. Fifteen minutes before the end of the boil add the remaining extract to both kettles.
You can use two kettles. Don’t boil the grains though. Grains are usually just meant for steeping unless it is a partial mash kit. Boiling the grains will extract tannins. It would be better to add extract to both kettles to have a wort of 1.040 SG in each. Add half the hops to each kettle to optimize hop oil isomerization. Fifteen minutes before the end of the boil add the remaining extract to both kettles.
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+1 and/or just boil to whatever your capacity is and add top off water to your fermenter. In the past I have pre-boiled then chilled top off water to help bring the wort down to pitching temp. 2 kettles and 2 different boils (after steeping the grains) seems like too much work to me and more area for things to go wrong IMO…
Flars, I’m sorry but I can’t provide you with any details, This was probably 5 years ago. I brewed a Bock and an Blonde Ale, Both were very bitter.
I know from one person, One of the beers I made, he tasted Salt, At that time I had a Water Softener in, I don’t anymore, I didn’t taste it probably cause I was used to it. And it was extremely bitter.
Then the blonde ale I brewed, it was very very bitter as well, no water softener this time I do know.
My Normal brew was 2 Gallons of water, Heat it to the temp, steep the speciality graisn for 30 minutes. Then bring to a boil. Pull off stove stir in LME so it wouldn’t scorch. Then put on stove again, bring to boil and start putting in hops at the times needed.
Now I do recall that none of the LME I had was previously hopped. It was a Bock Don’t remember the rest of the name, and it was a blonde ale I brewed.
Right now, I haven’t brewed them yet (Hoping they are still good) is a Germen Oktoberfest and an Oatmeal Stout. Oatmeal stout Kit I got is a All Grain.
Both has been sitting for probably 4 years maybe 5.
Rusty, I will provide this on my Next Extract Kit. Unfortunately, this was several years ago I brewed this beer, I don’t have any records of it, It was a Kit. I think I kept the paper, but I have NO Idea where it would be.
I’ll be keeping better records of what I boil with Ingredients etc in everything. This was just a Kit that was bought for me by the ole lady cause I wanted a brew kit. And at that time I think I was more excited to brew and get things done then the waiting and didn’t have the educiation I should’ve researched more about it and just jumped right in.
I remember to bring the water up to temp like the kit said. Dropping in the Speciality grains in the bag, letting set for whatever time it said. Then taking out, bring to a boil then taking off and putting in the LME so it don’ scorch on the stove. Then I brought back to a boil. I didn’ add any extra water to it, I just followed the kid instructions. I was told that something wasn’t getting diluted right that’s why it was getting bitter when you pour the rest of the water on.
And I’ve tried RO Water with my blonde ale whenI brewed, still had teh same bitterness.
YOu know what Flars. You may of just said what I needed to hear.
When I brewed the Kits. All of them told me to put the Speciality grains in the bag, put in the water and bring the water up to temp and then let it sit.
Would this have anything to do with the bitterness? Leaving the grains in the water and bring to temp. would that cause it to be bitter?
Because if leaving them in longer then needed time could cause bitterness, that could very well bee the issue I had.
What temperature do you brings the grains up to? Do you move the bag around in the water as it is heating.
I’ll begin with the bag of steeping grains in 2.5 gallons. This is for a 5 gallon recipe. I’ll heat the water to about 160°F then drain the grain bag over the boil kettle in a strainer followed by a rinse of 1 quart of just warm water. The rinse extracts more colors and left over sugars.
I have noticed that when the grain bag just lays on the bottom of the kettle while heating their is the noticeable sound of boiling. Heat trapped under the bag may be raising the temperature of some of the grains to the boil point with possible tannin extraction. I’ll use my spoon to move the bag to prevent over heating.
If you are in fact boiling the grains, or soaking them in ro water and taking them out just prior to hitting boiling temps, the pH is likely high enough to extract harsh tannins from the husks. You do want to remove the grains so that this doesn’t happen.
A second thing that sometimes happens when folks top up with tap water is that they don’t remove the chlorine before adding it to the beer. This will usually cause a chlorophenolic flavor/aroma to form, which is usually perceived as chloraseptic, band-aids, cloves or plastic. RO will help to eliminate that, if that has been contributing to the perception of these flavors.