[Extract] Following the recipe

[Paulgs3]

I've made two batches so far, I'm waiting form my primary to move along so I can free her up for another. I have a keen interest for the speciality grain extract kits as I'm a pot short of a partial mash. My question is, how closely do I need to follow the water requirements for an extract kit?

My recipe usually calls for me to start 3.5 gals of water add the grains... boil add extract then QS to 5 gals. Since I have a 7.5 gal kettle, I've been boiling around 5.5 to 5 gal and then QS to 5 gal when the wort is cooled.

I had a concern about my stove not bringing that volume to sufficient "rolling boil" so I might bring the volume down a tad. But should I be making adjustments to the hop "dosing" when aiming for a full boil using a kit?


Thanks in advance!

 

[fatherbigfoot]

The larger your boil the better your beer will be in general I hope you are not boiling your seeping grains those should not be in water hotter than 180 other wise you will release tannins that will give a terrible flavor

 

[Paulgs3]

No. my grains I keep at 155-165.

But, great, thanks for the reply! I was a bit worried as I like strong hoppy beer and was concerned that I was going to dilute it. Can I add boiling water during the hopping phase to maintain the 5 gals or is it best to QS after the wort is chilled?

 

[fatherbigfoot]

The larger your boil the less hops you need to reach the same IBU's.

 

[Teromous]

Think of it like making tea. If you steep the tea in a lot of water, you'll have a lot of tea. If you steep tea in a little water, you'll only have a little tea. If you add more water to that tea after steeping it, you'll dilute the flavor. Like making tea, the more grains you use the more flavor you'll impart.

I try to fill my pot about two or three inches from the top (can vary depending on grains) then steep. A lot of vapor will leave the pot and make room for the extract so don't worry. Even if you need more space for extract, there will be plenty of more space made while you are boiling off water while hopping. Extract doesn't necessarily need to be boiled for the whole 60 min. You can add it in at differing times (and can improve flavor by doing so) so long as you allow ample time to boil and sanitize before chilling the wort.

 

[Paulgs3]

Makes good sense! Thank you all.

 

[Yooper]

A couple of things to remember here- a partial mash is not a steep, even though the technique looks similar. For an extract kit with steeping grains, you can steep in however much water you want to. If, however, you are using grains that must be mashed like in a partial mash, you don't want to do that!

You generally want to mash with 1.5 quarts of water per pound of grain in the 150-155 degree range. After 45 minutes to an hour, you can lift out the grains and pour 170 degree water over it to sparge (rinse) the grains off. You can sparge with up to .5 gallon per pound of grain. If you're still short on the boil volume, you can add more plain water after the mash to bring you up to your boil volume.

In this case, more (water) isn't better! You want to only use the correct amount of water for the mash, then add more if needed before adding your extract and boiling your wort.

Secondly, the more liquid you boil, the higher the hops utilization. That's a good thing- but keep it in mind when you change a recipe designed for a smaller boil. You may want to use some brewing software, or post the recipe with the changes here, so you can adjust the bittering hops as needed. The beer can be much more bitter with a bigger boil.