Brewing smaller batches, < 5 gallons...

7 gals is pushing it for a full boil for a 5 gallon batch, but it's probably possible. I think my turkey fryer pots are actually 8+ gallons. They work fine but even then, the boil isn't that far from the top, and boil-overs can (and will) happen if you're not paying attention. Generally boil-overs occur when the boil first starts and there are hops in the pot, or when you add hops.

A turkey fryer has a separate burner which kicks out a lot of heat. I highly doubt a gas stove will kick out that much heat, so getting a good boil might be tough. Insufficient heat can lead to scorched wort, wimpy boils, frustration, and might set you off on a rampaging campaign of pillaging and death, with the ice pick and the blood and the.... Well, probably not that last one.

Nothing wrong with smaller batches, BTW. I used to do 3.5g when I was using a stove top. Getting slightly less tasty beer is better than getting a full batch of drainpour ale.

Being that it's your second batch, have you focused on the fundamentals?

• fermentation temperature control (below 70F ambient air temp, preferably more like 64F, because fermenting wort releases heat; ale yeasts)
• yeast pitching temperature and quickly cooled wort (again, below 70F, ale yeasts). Do you have a wort chiller?
• sanitation
• KISS methodology, especially with recipe formulation
• full boil

 

Your doubts are correct. You would be cutting it close for all grain and it won't work for 5 gallon extract full boils. DME raises the level of the wort. Boil off rate is usually around 1 gallon per hour. I start with 6.5 gallons of water and by the time I add the dme I am at 7.5-8 gallon mark on my kettle for most batches.

You can probably do 4 gallon batches as long as the OG is not too high and your stove can handle it. With 3.5 gallon batches you would probably not have to watch as close for boil overs.

Edit:Wanted to add that you can also add some of the DME with 15 minutes left once the level has dropped from boil off. Some people suggest doing this anyway to help with hop utilization and to get a lighter colored beer. This would probably allow you to do larger batches.

 

Also, if you're doing stovetop anyway, you can split the boil between two pots. I used to do this too, works fine. Just split the hops proportional to the volumes in the pots. Try to get it pretty close, but you don't need tenths of a milligram accuracy.

 

Out of curiosity, is that brewkettle 7 gallons when completely full to the brim, or do you have wiggle room? My 7.5 gallon pot has hash marks denoting the volume, but there's easily 3 or 4 more quarts of capacity above the top mark.

 

if a smaller batch allows you to have a full, rolling boil, without having to top off with water, then that's why you'll have better beer. A boil that's wimpy doesn't drive off the "bad" stuff as well (make sure to boil with lid OFF, btw). Wimpy boils could result in scorching too, especially for extract brewers. A good rolling boil actually circulates your wort well and prevents scorching.

So if you need to make 3.5 or 4 gallon batches instead of 5 gal, no problem, my 3.5 gallon batches came out just as good as my 5 gallon batches. And it really is as easy as "scale the recipe." A program like beersmith or Vikeman's spreadsheet is very helpful when trying to make a non-standard batch size. @VikeMan could you linky us that spreadsheet? actually, I now have excel, so I can mess with it myself too. [geek moment] I do love a good spreadsheet [/geek moment]

 

BrewCipher

 

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"Insufficient heat can lead to scorched wort...Wimpy boils could result in scorching too, especially for extract brewers."

Never experienced that...usually it excessive heat and/or a kettle that doesn't distribute the heat evenly.

 

I found that a lack of a rolling boil led to sinking extract (if using liquid, which I sometimes did/do), which meant you had to stir more, which reduced the boil etc etc. Uneven heating of a pot that was bigger than the burners and had a design where the center of the pot was slightly raised (which prevented direct contact of all the pot's bottom surface area with the damned glass stovetop) certainly contributed. Basically I had to stir a lot, and an hour boil was more like 75 minutes, and even then there would be small amounts of scorching (not enough to taste it, but annoying to clean) but I limped through those times. Actually splitting the boil into two pots went a long way towards curing this problem, so OP don't be afraid to split the boil into more than one vessel, just split the hops proportionately too.

A solid, sufficiently powerful burner along with a proper sized and shaped pot will give you an awesome rolling boil, which circulates the wort very well. Since using my turkey fryers I haven't had even a smidge of scorching.

 

TY.