4 Litre boil for a 23 litre batch

[Martin James]

I am hoping I can get some of your thoughts on the consequences of brewing using the following method (not the recipe):

-Steeping some grains i.e 200g Light Crystal for half an hour 65 degrees c in 2 litres of water then straining them with extra 2 litres of water.
-Boiling the (now) 4 litres adding 250 g LDM bring to the boil and add 30 g simcoe boil for 30 mins
-add 15mg cascade (after the 30 min as above) boil further 15 minutes then add 15mg citra for a 10 minute hop stand
-cool wort and add to FV that contains light pale liquid extract (not hopped) and water, add dextrose and water to fill to 23 litres

My questions are not about the hop combinations or Abv or recipe advice. I am keen to know how a small-sized boil can affect the IBU's or any other aspects of the brew. I would like to know why most extract boils and brew methods along these lines are mostly done by boiling 11 litres or more?

Thanks in advance, and I hope my post makes sense.
Cheers

 

[MHB]

Two things worth noting
First I think it will work just fine
Second is that it will be different to what would happen in a full volume boil.

There are lots of factors that affect how hops/hop products behave in a boil.
They include the amount of hops (g/L), the movement of the hops in the kettle, the pH...
The further you get from the full volume the more noticeable the changes will be.
If you make a batch then adjust your recipe to suit your tastes you should be able to develop a fair appreciation of how you should adjust a full volume recipe to work the way you want in future brews
It’s going to be a bit of trial and error but you can be fairly confident that you will get a lower bitterness than expected.
Taste your beer critically and make adjustments to match.
Mark

 

[Martin James]

Two things worth noting
First I think it will work just fine
Second is that it will be different to what would happen in a full volume boil.

There are lots of factors that affect how hops/hop products behave in a boil.
They include the amount of hops (g/L), the movement of the hops in the kettle, the pH...
The further you get from the full volume the more noticeable the changes will be.
If you make a batch then adjust your recipe to suit your tastes you should be able to develop a fair appreciation of how you should adjust a full volume recipe to work the way you want in future brews
It’s going to be a bit of trial and error but you can be fairly confident that you will get a lower bitterness than expected.
Taste your beer critically and make adjustments to match.
Mark

Thanks very much, Mark great advice.
I have just subscribed to brewfather and have been entering a few of my favourite recipes in that I know the taste of very well to see the IBU's and get a feel for what the numbers are so I can tweak some new recipes using those numbers as a baseline. Thanks again

 

[yankinoz]

Those additions of water with LME and with dextrose could be risky if the water has not previously been brought >80 degrees to sanitise it. Also, dextrose is usually but not necessarily sanitary. I'd heat it with the water. Presumably the water is dechlorinated.

 

[Eddy Monsoon]

Those additions of water with LME and with dextrose could be risky if the water has not previously been brought >80 degrees to sanitise it. Also, dextrose is usually but not necessarily sanitary. I'd heat it with the water. Presumably the water is dechlorinated.

Hmmmm

I'm out in the sticks on straight rainwater, whilst I boil the Malt and Hops in a 6 or 7 litre pot, I top up the 23 straight from the tap.

What is the risk with that ?

 

[Martin James]

Those additions of water with LME and with dextrose could be risky if the water has not previously been brought >80 degrees to sanitise it. Also, dextrose is usually but not necessarily sanitary. I'd heat it with the water. Presumably the water is dechlorinated.

Our tap water tastes great and I always use it straight from tap with no issue. However, I have lived in other suburbs where the water has not tasted so good straight from the tap and I was able to stop filtering my tap water for drinking when I moved to my current home 8 years ago. I only boil a bit of LDM for the sake of the hops, I have always just put the dex and LDM straight into FV with no issue...so far (52 brews). Cheers for the reply

 

[yankinoz]

Hmmmm

I'm out in the sticks on straight rainwater, whilst I boil the Malt and Hops in a 6 or 7 litre pot, I top up the 23 straight from the tap.

What is the risk with that ?

Obviously it works for you, but I recall in Belize, where everybody got rain water off the roofs, it was called bird shit water.

 

[Eddy Monsoon]

Obviously it works for you, but I recall in Belize, where everybody got rain water off the roofs, it was called bird shit water.

Well, maybe

I get the occasional light 'infection' / film on the FV beer surface, that doesn't effect taste but seems to trigger frothing in the bottle when opened.

I thought it was maybe my cleaning technique being insufficient, and didn't think of the unboiled water.

 

[ianh]

Agree with MHB comment "There are lots of factors that affect how hops/hop products behave in a boil."

I did the Kit and Extract Spreadsheet and incorporated a Hop Concentration Factor to try and allow for small size boils. Suggest you have a look at the spreadsheet and hopefully it may help with your understanding.

 

[Drubbing]

I did the Kit and Extract Spreadsheet and incorporated a Hop Concentration Factor to try and allow for small size boils. Suggest you have a look at the spreadsheet and hopefully it may help with your understanding.

Brilliant spreadsheet. I used it for years, for all my Kit n kilos and the steeps and tweaks I brewed. Was good to see where I was on style and IBUs. Every recipe I plugged in came in on the numbers produced +/- 1.

Now using your BIAB version for my AG brews. I've not hit the numbers yet, but that's an issue with my mash/boil process, not the sheets. It tells me I'm not getting something quite right and I can try to address it. Good beer is still being made regardless. Thanks for putting these together.

 

[Martin James]

Agree with MHB comment "There are lots of factors that affect how hops/hop products behave in a boil."

I did the Kit and Extract Spreadsheet and incorporated a Hop Concentration Factor to try and allow for small size boils. Suggest you have a look at the spreadsheet and hopefully it may help with your understanding.

I will do that. Thanks very much!