5gal Fermentor / 15gal brewing kettle

[Brauman]

Hi HBT community!

Great place to learn about homebrewing! And I got a question.
So I went out and got a brewing kettle that's way to big (40qt), which has been working fine sofar. I'll be brewing a new batch this weekend and the recipe is for 5gal. So my question is, since my kettle holds more than 5gal, shall I boil 5gal wort rather than the usual 3gal wort or do I stick to boiling 3gal (topping it off with 2gal of H2O once it's in the fermentor) Does this makes sense?
Thanks

 

[bruin_ale]

Yes, definitely boil the full amount now that you have the ability. Start out with boiling 6-6.5 gallons, that should boil down to about 5.5 or 5.25 depending on your boil off rate.

 

[jester5120]

do full volume boils if you can (5 gal). it'll give you better hop utilization and better flavor from the malt. I would plan on starting your boil with over 5 gallons to account for boil off. I do about 7 gallon boils for mine because i account for boil off and hop matter. I end up with about 5.25 gallons when i'm all done.

 

[brewkinger]

+1
By all means, now that you have the ability to do full boils, do so.

(by the way, a 10gal kettle is NOT way too big, especially if you plan on moving to partial mash and all grain eventually.)

 

[Gravedigger]

Another vote for full boil. I too try to start with about 7 gallons so I end up with a little over 5 gallons finished beer.

 

[BlackRock]

Definitely a full boil like these guys are saying. When I was doing Extract batches I'd start steeping my specialty grains while starting to bring about 5 gallons of water to a boil in my kettle. Then when my specialty grains were done I could add that water to the kettle, rinse the grains with another 2 liters of water I had heated and have my boil almost going and ready for adding the extracts.

My pre-boil target volume was around 26-28 Liters or just over 7 gallons. By the time I got it boiling, boiled an hour, cooled it off and transferred it to the fermenter I'd have a final volume of just over 5 gallons to maybe 5.5 gallons. No top off water needed and no more missed OG's.

 

[CastleHollow]

The size of the kettle isn't the only limiting factor--you need to consider how well you'll be able to cool your wort once it's done boiling. Lots of extract brewers use their top-off water to get down to pitching temps. If you have an immersion chiller, ice bath, snow bank, or other means of rapid cooling available, then you'll be in good shape.

 

[Brauman]

Thank you gentlepeople. Very helpful advice! looking forward to doing a full boil!