How Much Water In Boil

[fergi]

i always put 2 litres of water into my pot to boil my pack of ingredients, malt /dex/ hops/ grain. the pack says to use 3 litres in the boil which is about 30% more than i am using, will this affect the final flavour of my pale ale after adding water into fermenter to bring it up to 21 litres, i have always done this with my little creatures pale ale except for the first time i made it, then i think i may have added the 3 litres, since that first one i have not replicated the original flavour profile of the first batch, does this sound like it could be the difference in the flavour, i cut the boil back to two litres after the first one because 3 litres was a bit too close to the top of the pan and could have been dabgerous for a boilover
cheers
fergi

 

[murrayr]

honestly, i would look to invest in a larger pot.

when i do extract brews i like boil the ingredients in more like 8 or 9 litres and top it up.
the difference in flavour could come down to many a reasons. but i prefer to use much more water, just my 2c

 

[cdavros]

You'll get a higher hop utilisation if the gravity of your boil is lower. So more water or less malt extract in your boil = more bitterness. Whether or not you want this is up to you.
Not sure about other flavours that might be affected.

 

[barneyb]

I am just about to do my first boil and the amount to use was confusing me a bit too.

My next one is going to be very similar to Neill's Centenarillo. His method is to boil 5L water with only 500gm of the LME, but he is only doing a 1/2 hour boil. Does the smaller boil time compensate for the small amount of LME which will make it less bitter?

My next next batch will be the extract version of Dr Smurto Golden Ale:
1 can Light malt extract
1 can Coopers Wheat Malt
250g Caramalt (or other light crystal)
20g Amarillo @ 60
15g Amarillo @ 15, 5 and dry hop.
Yeast - US05

When doing this one would I use more water, say 8-9L and with both the cans for the boil?

 

[Pennywise]

Flavour wise, in my experience, 30% less boil water wont make a difference, it will however, as said above change the bitterness slightly, which I suppose could be interperated as a difference in taste, due to the balance being slightly altered. I think it all come down to exactly how long your boiling the hops for and ho much hops you're boiling. FWIW, when I do a real quick brew, like a tin of CPA, 1kg LDME and 30g Amarillo @ 10 min, it doesn't make sweet FA difference if I boil the malt & hops in 1,2 or 15 litres except that I have to cool a hell of alot more wort when done with 15L.

 

[ianh]

i always put 2 litres of water into my pot to boil my pack of ingredients, malt /dex/ hops/ grain. the pack says to use 3 litres in the boil which is about 30% more than i am using, will this affect the final flavour of my pale ale after adding water into fermenter to bring it up to 21 litres, i have always done this with my little creatures pale ale except for the first time i made it, then i think i may have added the 3 litres, since that first one i have not replicated the original flavour profile of the first batch, does this sound like it could be the difference in the flavour, i cut the boil back to two litres after the first one because 3 litres was a bit too close to the top of the pan and could have been dabgerous for a boilover
cheers
fergi

Would have thought 3 litres was 50% more than 2 litres, but basically you need a bigger pot. Big W have 20 litre pots for about $20.

Speciality grains need steeping at about 65C and should not be boiled. The resulting liquor from steeping the grains is boiled with about 100 g of malt per litre of boil volume. This will give a good efficiency if you are boiling hops for bitterness.

 

[fergi]

Would have thought 3 litres was 50% more than 2 litres, but basically you need a bigger pot. Big W have 20 litre pots for about $20.

Speciality grains need steeping at about 65C and should not be boiled. The resulting liquor from steeping the grains is boiled with about 100 g of malt per litre of boil volume. This will give a good efficiency if you are boiling hops for bitterness.

yes in that context your correct, but using only 2 litres of recommended 3 litre boil would mean i am only using 66% of recomended boil so i am 30% short of recommended amount of 3 litre boil
cheers fergi.