Minimum Extract Boil Volume?

[brownshoes]

I wanted to have a crack at my first extract this weekend but I only have a 5L pot at the moment. Is there a minimum boil volume before it starts to impact hops utilisation? (assuming appropriate boil gravity) I had a quick search but couldn't find an answer...

Or am I wasting my time with such a small boil volume and try to find a cheap larger pot somewhere?

Any help appreciated!

 

[raven19]

I would have thought 4-5 L of extract being boiled with hops added would be fine.

Some more details on the recipe maybe - are we talking about a partial?

I have done many partials in the past with some specialy grains and hops in a similar sized vessel with great results. Add tin of goo into fermenter, boil up the other goodies then strain that into fermentor, top up with water and away you go!

 

[chappo1970]

+1 Rav's
I did all my K&B's and extracts out of a 5lt pot. PITA yes but it is do-able as per Rav. Just make sure your boil liquor is at least 1040 grav IIRC?

Made some great beers that way.

 

[cdbrown]

100g of LDME for each L of water. being a 5L pot , you may only want have 3L with 300g LDME. Towards the end of the boil start slowly pouring the rest of the LDME (make sure the boil is vigorous otherwise the addition will stop the boil)

 

[brownshoes]

It's not a partial (unless steeping speciality grains counts), I'm going to give the amber ale in 'how to brew' a go. I don't have the recipe on hand but from memory it's 2 x 1.5kg light LME and around 500g(?) crystal.

Good to know I don't have to drop more cash to give extracts a go.

 

[Gavo]

Towards the end of the boil start slowly pouring the rest of the LDME (make sure the boil is vigorous otherwise the addition will stop the boil)

Be very careful when adding the rest of the LME at the end of the boil. You will very easily end up with a boil-over that looks a lot like a malt volcano. If you are using tins of malt extract there is no need to boil them at all as they have already been boiled. Just dissolve them in your fermenter with the liquid from the boil.

You will need to boil the liquid from the grain. I would think that boiling 3 lt in a 5 lt pot will work out fine using the liquid from the steeped grain only.

Cheers
Gavo.

 

[brownshoes]

Thanks for the responses. I'm still pretty new to all this!

The recipe in the book is:

2 x 1.5kg light LME
900g crystal 60L

14g Centennial @ 60
28g Mt Hood @ 30
28g Willamette @ 15

Total IBUs 43
Total Volume 19L

(I'll substitute the Mt Hood with what ever I can get my hands on)

You will need to boil the liquid from the grain. I would think that boiling 3 lt in a 5 lt pot will work out fine using the liquid from the steeped grain only.

But will the BG be high enough with just the liquid from the steeped grains? or should I use some of the LME to bring up the BG closer to approx 1040? (I can also replace one or both of the tins with DME if that'll make things easier)

 

[chappo1970]

....should I use some of the LME to bring up the BG closer to approx 1040?....

There's your answer, you had it all the way along. :icon_cheers:

 

[WarmBeer]

Get yourself to BigW, they have 19 litre pots for about $20.

Then you can do your extract to a minimum 7 litres, to get better utilisation of your hops.

Ideally you'd do a 10 or 11 litre boil, but it gets a bit hard to cool it down to fermentation temperature without an immersion chiller.

 

[Gavo]

But will the BG be high enough with just the liquid from the steeped grains? or should I use some of the LME to bring up the BG closer to approx 1040? (I can also replace one or both of the tins with DME if that'll make things easier)

If you are indeed using 900 grams of crystal in a 3lt boil you should get a boil gravity of around 1060 depending on how well you extract the sugars from the grain. Even with poor extraction you should still achieve 1040.
As Chappo said you already have the answer. Add some extra extract if needed. Also as Warmbeer stated BigW has 19lt pots for around 20 dollars. Don't worry if you don't get one for this brew but I am wiling to bet that you will upscale soon, particularly if you hang around here.
Don't get worried to much about the brew done. Just do it you will be suprised just how simple it is.

Cheers
Gavo.

 

[seemax]

900g crystal seems too much, expect quite a sweet beer!

 

[brownshoes]

900g crystal seems too much, expect quite a sweet beer!

It is an amber ale...just might be a dark/sweet one. As gavo rightly put it I'll just go ahead and brew it. If it's too sweet I'm sure the other half will still like it

Thanks all for the help!

 

[RobboMC]

900g crystal seems too much, expect quite a sweet beer!

I've done amber ale with 1000g of crystal along with 2kg of liquid malt
and it turned out good with 35g of Willimete. This looks like a nice beer,
but maybe add a touch more hop at the 30 minute boil.

Nothing wrong with sweet beers, as long as you like them.

 

[cdbrown]

Get yourself to BigW, they have 19 litre pots for about $20.

I keep looking for these pots, but there's never anything that big. Always about 10L and normally alot more $$.

 

[DKS]

I keep looking for these pots, but there's never anything that big. Always about 10L and normally alot more $$.

Yeh me too. I think you have to be "Johny on the spot" and get lucky, BUT, some previous posts suggested the handles on those weren't so secure so maybe better to spend a few extra dollars and get a good one.
Besides its not as if it will only be used for home brewing is it?
Outside on the BBQ it can be used for cooking muddies and redclaw and prawns and other stuff that go with beer, so two would be good, a cheapie and a goody but start with a goody. ( Try to justify expense in own mind somehow)
Daz

 

[Dazza_devil]

Towards the end of the boil start slowly pouring the rest of the LDME (make sure the boil is vigorous otherwise the addition will stop the boil)

I read somewhere that adding the LDME while boiling will scorch the malt and it's best to remove from the heat, completely dissolve the dried malt, then return to the boil. Is this wise?
What's the problem with stopping the boil? Can we just continue to time when the wort starts to boil again or will this put all the bitterness and aroma calculations out?

 

[ianh]

If you are steeping 900 grams of crystal you definitely need a bigger pot.

Steeping grains require minimum of 3 times the amount of water for steeping and the same for sparging thus 900 grams requires a minimum 5.4 litres of water.

As others have suggested the 20L pots from BigW are good, then you can boil 8-10 litres with your hops.

 

[citizensnips]

just had a quick question relating to this and didnt think it was necessary to start a new topic. When your trying to get the gravity of 1040 and you add 100g of LDM for each L. Can you use your hydrometer to measure or does the temperature of water impare the result? I always thought it did. Im only saying this becuase im about to do my first extract and im using about 250g of crystal but want to try and get 1040. Is 250g crystal going to make that much of a differnce to the gravity?
cheers

 

[brettprevans]

eddy22

yes temp affects hydro readings. you can either manually adjust the reading taking into account temp or....use a brew calculator or beer software (like beersmith or promash) to calculate your gravities. thats the easiest way. do a search on ahb and you'll find a heap of basic calculators.

heres one (its the only thing i use from this site -and that includes not buying from it!). play around with it and you can get an idea of what you need to add etc. its fairly accurate.

 

[Phoney]

Eddy, if you stick to the rule of thumb that 1L of water to 100g of LDME you will get 1040 anyway. Just be careful with your measurements and you shouldnt need to measure your gravity.