Water Volume For Hop Extraction

[marlow_coates]

Hey guys and girls.

When you do a brew with a kit, but want more hops for more bittering, or you do an extract brew and do all you own hopping, how much water do you boil on the stove to boil the hops in?

For a 24L brew, if I boil hops in 2L of water with some DME to make SG about 1040, will I get the same IBU's as if I had boiled it in 5L? 10L? the whole 24L?

Obviously I would like to have to boil as little as possible with the desired effects.

I don't boil the whole thing (and I assume most of you don't either).

Cheers for advice. Haven't done an all extract brew yet but keen to start planning one.

Marlow

 

[WarmBeer]

I go for about 1/3 to 1/2 the total volume, so about 7-8 litres of water. You want to use a corresponding amount of malt extract, as you want the gravity of your boil to be similar to the OG of your wort in the fermenter to maximise alpha acid absorbtion from the hops. For 1040 gravity, use about 100g of extract per litre of water (i.e. 800gms, but I usually just chuck in a kilo)

A good tip from my last brew, freeze a couple of take-away containers full of water the night beforehand (make sure they're free of curry, and sterilise em too). 3 containers brought my 8 lt boil down to ~30 deg within 20 minutes. Have your pot in the sink full of cold water helps too.

Enjoy,

Brett

 

[Gavo]

A lot of people boil their hops in a small amount of water as you have mentioned and report positive results. As WarmBeer has said 100 grams of LDME per litre of water will give you a pre-boil gravity of 1040. This will give you good hop utilization while keeping it simple. Use a boil volume as large as you feel comfortable with. I you can only boil 2 litres then boil 2 litres. If you can boil 5 litres then better for a more controllable boil. Watch out for boil overs as LDME can get quite foamy as it gets to the boil, so make sure that you have plenty of headspace in the pot.
Have fun with the hop additions. You will enjoy them as it is a great improvement for little effort.

Cheers
Gavo.

 

[zebba]

A good tip from my last brew, freeze a couple of take-away containers full of water the night beforehand (make sure they're free of curry, and sterilise em too). 3 containers brought my 8 lt boil down to ~30 deg within 20 minutes. Have your pot in the sink full of cold water helps too.

This would have been a nice tip for my last brew! Took 6 hours to get the temp down to a low enough temp to pitch (using an ice bath). Give this serious consideration marlow_coates, as cooling that much hot liquid can take some effort.

 

[marlow_coates]

Cheers guys,

Think I will go for 4 or 5L as that is my max for the stove at home.

Warmbeer I split my time brewing between AG and kits and use crash chilling with a coil on the AG. Getting that temp down is the main reason I am unwilling to boil huge volumes for my own hop extraction. Knowing that I can get the hops used well in less water is a huge bonus.

Cheers again for the advice.
Time to start planning some brews

 

[marlow_coates]

Also good tip on the frozen containers and ice bath. I will definately use this technique.

 

[Nick JD]

I sit my carapils and caramalt nylon bags in 4 liters of 60 degree water for 30 minutes, chuck the grain, bring it to the boil and add my first home made nylon bag of bittering hops. Half an hour later I add my flavour hops. About three minutes before the end (fifteen minutes later) I throw in my aroma hop bag just to get it sterile (that one goes in the fermenter, the other two in the bin).

By this time the boil volume is about 2.5 liters. I pour this into the fermenter with my malt (dry and liquid) and dissolve it all.

Then I top up with my tank water to 23 liters and add the yeast.

Works a treat. Heaps of head and flavour and no infections ever.

 

[marlow_coates]

Nick JD - Did you sew some nylon bags? or just use some stockings?

I am thinking of using stockings as disposables.

 

[unterberg]

Nick JD - Did you sew some nylon bags? or just use some stockings?

I am thinking of using stockings as disposables.

You gotta make sure they match the grain and pot though

 

[Nick JD]

Nick JD - Did you sew some nylon bags? or just use some stockings?

I am thinking of using stockings as disposables.

Longish story. I do a lot of vacuum bagging carbon fiber. Part of the process requires a "bleeder" fabric that lets excess resin through it and into some fluffy polyester like in a doona so the carbon has a good fiber to resin ratio. The "peel ply" is nylon has a perfect weave gap that traps the grain and hops but lets the flavours n stuff through. Handles heat no worries. I have a feeling it's the same stuff the BIAB guys are using ... from Spotlight.

I don't sew it - just have a big square, plonk the milled grain in the middle and pickup up the corners like a hobo's swag and use a twist-tie to hold it all in.

Stockings would work - but mine all have ladders in them from the last time my local pub had free drinks for people in skirts.