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Author Topic: Full 5 gallon boil, or ???  (Read 1561 times)

Offline manyguns

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Full 5 gallon boil, or ???
« on: October 09, 2018, 06:08:41 am »
A quick question. I have been doing a full 5 gallon extract boil. Is there an advantage in doing a half (2 1/2 gal boil and adding the cold water instead of the full 5 gal? Is the end result any different?
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Offline MNWayne

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Re: Full 5 gallon boil, or ???
« Reply #1 on: October 09, 2018, 07:42:35 am »
With a full boil you will get better hop utilization and the assurance that the wort has been sterilized of any nasties that might want to help the good yeast eat the sugar. Who knows what's lurking in the 2 1/2 gal of cold water. Downside is you have a larger volume of liquid to cool to pitching temp.
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Offline a10t2

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Re: Full 5 gallon boil, or ???
« Reply #2 on: October 09, 2018, 10:57:41 am »
When I do partial boils I freeze the makeup water a couple days ahead of time. It helps a little with the sanitation issue (and pre-boiling can virtually eliminate it), and eliminates the need for any other chilling. Equal parts ice and near-boiling wort will come to equilibrium at ~60°F.
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Offline Richard

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Re: Full 5 gallon boil, or ???
« Reply #3 on: October 09, 2018, 12:04:00 pm »
When I did partial-boil extract brews my beers always came out darker than expected.
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