So, I'm to the point where my turkey fryer is not large enough to accommodate the 7+ gallon pre-boil volumes that I need for my 5.5 gallon batches due to boil off, and trub loss. I have been toying with the idea of doing my regular boil in the turkey pot, and then collecting a couple more gallons to boil in a different pot, and combine the two at the end. Does anyone do this? My two main concerns are a darkening of the wort due to a "concentrated" boil in the smaller pot, as well as hop utilization because I wasn't sure if I should split the hop additions equally between the two kettles as well? I know a larger pot is the ultimate goal, but my crappy turkey burner struggles to boil my current set up too. Thanks for any help!
Split boil batches?
- Thread starter InLimbo
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My turkey fryer can handle about 13 gallons in a keg before it has a hard time maintaining a good boil. You can always get a bigger pot.
If you must split boil it can be done. Are you doing an all grain setup or are you brewing with extract.
It looks like you are doing an all grain. I had to do split boils when I bought my 10 gallon fermenter but still had a 5 gallon rig. I was in the habit of splitting hop additions. If the vast majority will be in one container you could just do them all in it and not worry about the utilization. If it seems low add more next time.
In the long run, you will probably find that the split boil is a pain in the neck. I made sure it was a temporary isssue, but I can't say it had any negative effects other than extra effort.
If you must split boil it can be done. Are you doing an all grain setup or are you brewing with extract.
It looks like you are doing an all grain. I had to do split boils when I bought my 10 gallon fermenter but still had a 5 gallon rig. I was in the habit of splitting hop additions. If the vast majority will be in one container you could just do them all in it and not worry about the utilization. If it seems low add more next time.
In the long run, you will probably find that the split boil is a pain in the neck. I made sure it was a temporary isssue, but I can't say it had any negative effects other than extra effort.
+1 on Hoplife. Doable but a pain. You can split the hops, or put them all in the lower gravity wort (alpha acid utilization goes down with increased gravity). When i first started out i only had 1 pot and had to boil in steps, royal pain. I don't think you'll have issues with "concentrated wort", it'll get diluted to "normal" when you combine everything.
