Full 5 gallon boiling

[Brewing1976]

I I’m able to boil a full 5 gallons. Should I put little more then 5 gallons in the pot cause of something it evaporating?

 

[histo320]

I I’m able to boil a full 5 gallons. Should I put little more then 5 gallons in the pot cause of something it evaporating?

Yes. Any brewing software such as Beersmith has a tool where you can calculate boiloff.

The amount of boiloff depends on the temperature outside and out rigorous your boil is.

I believe the default setting is 1.25 gal an hour.

I do 5 gallon batches and have an 8 gal kettle and I've been pretty close to being several times.

 

[ba-brewer]

If you do a 5gal full boil a 10gal kettle with give some room to allow the break to form and foam up at the beginning of the boil without making a mess.

I have done a few 5gal batches in a 8gal kettle and had to really watch the pot to make sure it did not boil over. I use a 11gal kettle now and still have had a few boil overs.

 

[Alex4mula]

My first mistake in my first two brews. Used 5gal and ended with 3.5gal of wort. Boil 6 1/4 if your kettle allows.

 

[Brewing1976]

So if doing a 5 gallon boil how much water should you use?

 

[mongoose33]

I'd shoot for 6.5 gallons to start, presuming perhaps a gallon boiloff leaving 5.5 gallons into the fermenter. Some of that will turn into trub in the bottom of the fermenter, allowing me to produce 5 gallons of beer.

Now that's with a fairly vigorous boil. More recently there has been some attention paid to heat damage to the wort with excess boiling so many are now doing simmers rather than vigorous boils. That reduces the amount of boiloff, of course.

In your case, start with 6.5 gallons and see what you get after an hour. Probably close to 5.5 gallons.

 

[camonick]

So if doing a 5 gallon boil how much water should you use?

Like @mongoose33 says above, I also think you would benefit from taking an afternoon and accurately measuring and boiling a known amount of plain water (say 6.5 gallons) for an hour using your equipment, then measure what’s left after cooling and voila... you know the boil off rate for YOUR equipment setup.
Also remember to take into account volume additions if you’re using LME as a total for your boil volume as well as volume losses if you’re using crushed grains (grain absorption) in a BIAB method.
How big is your kettle? Keep in mind the need for extra volume to avoid messy boil-overs too. I think an 8 gallon kettle is about right for full volume boils yielding approximately 5.5 gallons into the fermenter.

 

[ba-brewer]

So if doing a 5 gallon boil how much water should you use?

Are you brewing extract or all grain or partial mash?

 

[Brewing1976]

Like @mongoose33 says above, I also think you would benefit from taking an afternoon and accurately measuring and boiling a known amount of plain water (say 6.5 gallons) for an hour using your equipment, then measure what’s left after cooling and voila... you know the boil off rate for YOUR equipment setup.
Also remember to take into account volume additions if you’re using LME as a total for your boil volume as well as volume losses if you’re using crushed grains (grain absorption) in a BIAB method.
How big is your kettle? Keep in mind the need for extra volume to avoid messy boil-overs too. I think an 8 gallon kettle is about right for full volume boils yielding approximately 5.5 gallons into the fermenter.

This is my first time brewing in about 6 years. I’m using brewing kits. I brewed my first beer this weekend. I did 2.5 gallon brew when I put in the fermenter I only had about gallon and half. So I’m hoping with adding that much water it doesn’t come out like crap

 

[Brewing1976]

Are you brewing extract or all grain or partial mash?

Extract kit

 

[ba-brewer]

As other have said you need to do some basic boil off tests and that will help you determine the amount of water for a full boil.

For extract personally I would not do a full as being able to add top off water has it advantages like aiding cooling and being able to fill exactly as much as you want. If you over estimate your boil off then you need to add sugar or DME to compensate, where as if you count on doing some top off water it is less of a concern. Staging your extract additions can be done to give you similar hop utilization to a full boil. Less energy to boil less liquid too.

 

[Shady]

I do extract and have a 10 gallon kettle. I do a full boil and I always start with 6.5 gallons of water. This accounts for boil off and leaving a little in the kettle at the end to avoid the trub getting into the fermentor.

 

[NGD]

As other have said you need to do some basic boil off tests and that will help you determine the amount of water for a full boil.

For extract personally I would not do a full as being able to add top off water has it advantages like aiding cooling and being able to fill exactly as much as you want. If you over estimate your boil off then you need to add sugar or DME to compensate, where as if you count on doing some top off water it is less of a concern. Staging your extract additions can be done to give you similar hop utilization to a full boil. Less energy to boil less liquid too.

I’m in this camp as well. I’ve tried both and using an IC plus a few gallons of pre-chilled water can really cut down on your brew time.

 

[mongoose33]

This is my first time brewing in about 6 years. I’m using brewing kits. I brewed my first beer this weekend. I did 2.5 gallon brew when I put in the fermenter I only had about gallon and half. So I’m hoping with adding that much water it doesn’t come out like crap

It'll be beer. You have two things going for you; one is that you're not a newbie, though there's some rust that needs to be knocked off. Your relearning curve should be fast.

Second, it'll be beer. Brewing is a pretty resilient process, you have to really work to screw it up. As long as your water is good, you've practiced good cleaning and sanitation habits, and you control fermentation temp, it should be fine.

How are you going to control fermentation temp?

 

[Brewing1976]

It'll be beer. You have two things going for you; one is that you're not a newbie, though there's some rust that needs to be knocked off. Your relearning curve should be fast.

Second, it'll be beer. Brewing is a pretty resilient process, you have to really work to screw it up. As long as your water is good, you've practiced good cleaning and sanitation habits, and you control fermentation temp, it should be fine.

How are you going to control fermentation temp?

Right now temp is ok where it is. But I might have to getting a heating mat so I can put it my basement in a old chest freezer

 

[mongoose33]

Right now temp is ok where it is. But I might have to getting a heating mat so I can put it my basement in a old chest freezer

Yeast is exothermic, meaning it produces heat while working. It can raise the temp of the wort 5 to 10 degrees above what ambient temperature is. So if you're ambient is, say, 69, you might think it's ok, but you may be as high as 79. Since yeast will express different--and often undesirable--flavors at high temps than normal temps, you want to avoid that unless it is your intent.

Some beers, like Belgians, are designed for higher temp fermentation, but most beers/yeast are not.

 

[Brewing1976]

Yeast is exothermic, meaning it produces heat while working. It can raise the temp of the wort 5 to 10 degrees above what ambient temperature is. So if you're ambient is, say, 69, you might think it's ok, but you may be as high as 79. Since yeast will express different--and often undesirable--flavors at high temps than normal temps, you want to avoid that unless it is your intent.

Some beers, like Belgians, are designed for higher temp fermentation, but most beers/yeast are not.

So would you make use the refrigerator to cool it down? Then buying a heating mat?

 

[mongoose33]

So would you make use the refrigerator to cool it down? Then buying a heating mat?

Well, that's what I do. What you need is a controller (Inkbird 308 is commonly used; I have five of them), a refrigerator, and a heat mat. A Fermwrap or a seedling/reptile cage mat will work. That way you can offset if the refrigerator gets too cold, and chill down to what you need.

But for right now, you could use a swamp cooler. Get an aluminum turkey pan. Fill with 2" of water. Put fermenter in it. Drape a t-shirt over it to hang down in the water. It will wick up water and that will evaporate, providing (drum roll....) about 5 degrees of cooling power.

Some will put ice bottles in the water depending on ambient. If you don't have one of those sticky "fermometer" thermometers you can stick on the side of the fermenter, get one. That way you can see what you've got.

Here's what I mean: