[beerhaus]

I have an all extract hefeweizen batch I want to make - my question is how much water do I start with in the brew pot?

[Jimmy K]

That depends on how big your pot is. 2-3 gallons it typical. Less water will result in more caramelization so the more the better. You can go as high as boiling the full volume for the entire batch, if your pot is that large.

[beerhaus]

Thanks that's what I was wondering about I have a 8 gal pot so I'll start with 4.5 to 5 gal of water and half the extract.

[Jimmy K]

Late extract additions are for partial boils. If you have an 8 gallon pot, add 5 gallons and all the extract. That should give you about 6 gallons. About one gallon will boil off.

[beerhaus]

Thanks again - I just wasn't sure where to start - so if I have the real estate I'll use it

makes things much easier

 

[duboman]

I know this will raise a debate but we do full boils AND we do late extract additions. We use a 7 gallon kettle, steep in 2.5 gallons, sparge grains while we get to 6.25 gallons and with boil off we finish with 5-5.25 gallons of wort. No boil overs yet!

We do the late extract because we have found it takes far less time to get things boiling again and it seems as though the hop utilization is better. We generally add the remaining malt at the 30- minute mark. We have done 3 different types of beer now both ways and the late extract beers seem to have a better balance of malt and hops than when we added the extract in its entirety at the start. Let the debate begin................

[Jimmy K]

I wouldn't call 30 minutes a late extract addition, just later.  The dissolved sugars in wort will raise the boiling point of the water and decrease hop utilization, so I'd say you're correct in both of your observations. But since you want a debate , I'd think that if your later extract technique results in better beer, that you're compensating for some other fault in your technique or recipes and should instead by trying to find the cause.

Aside from that, I believe there are many ways to make good beer.

[duboman]

I wouldn't call 30 minutes a late extract addition, just later.  The dissolved sugars in wort will raise the boiling point of the water and decrease hop utilization, so I'd say you're correct in both of your observations. But since you want a debate , I'd think that if your later extract technique results in better beer, that you're compensating for some other fault in your technique or recipes and should instead by trying to find the cause.

Aside from that, I believe there are many ways to make good beer.

Wasn't looking for a debate, I just know this is a highly debated subject. As for finding fault in our process, or compensating, we are very pleased with the beers we are brewing and that's why we continue doing what we are doing. Each time we re-brew a batch we Try to tweak something to make it better, you are correct, there are lots of ways to make a great beer!
Cheers!