Stovetop AG advice

[Crinkle]

I've been brewing partial mash for 5 years with great sucess, (2 gallon cooler with vegitable steamer as a false bottom 88% efficency) and have even used that set up for 5 or 6 AG 2.5 gallon batches that went well too. I got a rebate back from Menards and picked up a ball valve, and the screen to convert one of my coolers to a mash tun. I have a couple of drawbacks to my set up.
1. Me - I'm cripple, so brewing outside/moving 5+ gallons of really hot liquid...not smart.
2. Brew pot - I currently have a 3.5 gallon and 3 gallon brew pot, and there is no chance of upgrading to a larger pot until Christmas (Already convinced the wife to get me a keg set up for anniversary/B-day gift, not gonna push things now)

So, I'm looking at spliting the boils on the stove top. I've read some previous posts on this subject, but would like to ask a few questions to those smarter than I. Can I boil the 1st runnings in the larger pot, and do all my hop additions there (realizing I'll have to compensate for hop utilization)??

And can I boil the 2nd runnings in the smaller pot for 15 to 20 minutes to steralize, than mix both in the fermenting bucket/carboy?

I've read that mixing the first and second runnings is the best but see my reason 1 above for not wanting to do that. Thanks for the advice, can't wait to read what you have to say.

[DannyW]

First thought I had was why not boil all the hops in the second runnings? You can use less hops for the same effect.

Second thought was, hmm, why not a short boil? Boil should 1) sanitize, 2) darken, 3) concentrate, 4) coagulate, and 5) remove undesirable compounds. 20 min should get you 1 & 4. You might not care about 2 or 3. 5 is going to give you a problem though. Conventional wisdom says that short of a boil will leave you with DMS. Then again, they said no-chill brewing would leave DMS and it doesn't so please give it a try and let us know how it goes!

If your stove can handle it, why not put the hops in the second runnings pot and boil both pots for the whole hour or 90 min or whatever?

[Dirk McLargeHuge]

I've been brewing partial mash for 5 years with great sucess, (2 gallon cooler with vegitable steamer as a false bottom 88% efficency) and have even used that set up for 5 or 6 AG 2.5 gallon batches that went well too. I got a rebate back from Menards and picked up a ball valve, and the screen to convert one of my coolers to a mash tun. I have a couple of drawbacks to my set up.
1. Me - I'm cripple, so brewing outside/moving 5+ gallons of really hot liquid...not smart.
2. Brew pot - I currently have a 3.5 gallon and 3 gallon brew pot, and there is no chance of upgrading to a larger pot until Christmas (Already convinced the wife to get me a keg set up for anniversary/B-day gift, not gonna push things now)

So, I'm looking at spliting the boils on the stove top. I've read some previous posts on this subject, but would like to ask a few questions to those smarter than I. Can I boil the 1st runnings in the larger pot, and do all my hop additions there (realizing I'll have to compensate for hop utilization)??

And can I boil the 2nd runnings in the smaller pot for 15 to 20 minutes to steralize, than mix both in the fermenting bucket/carboy?

I've read that mixing the first and second runnings is the best but see my reason 1 above for not wanting to do that. Thanks for the advice, can't wait to read what you have to say.

So are you thinking of moving to 5 gallon batches?

I'd look into a March pump. BYO did an article on putting one in a toolbox. So that's what I did. If you have a valve on the pot, you can pump the hot wort wherever it needs to go. Make sure you use silicon tubing. That's the best solution, IMHO, for #1.

For #2 (heh heh, I said "number two" ), bringing five gallons to boil on the stovetop will take a long time. You will definitely need a pump then. Maybe your plan of splitting the boil is better.

[Crinkle]

Sorry Dirk, I've done mostly 5 gallong batches, but those were partial mash - around 4 pounds of grain and 1-6 pounds extract depending on the brew. the 2.5 gallon brews used about 4.5 pounds of grain, no extract (mostly my kick ass Oktoberfest) Just trying to manage a way to a full boil with least amount of work, and moving of hot liquids, as well as no additional costs at this time.

Danny good point on the DMS, I didn't take that into consideration.

[Dirk McLargeHuge]

Sorry Dirk, I've done mostly 5 gallong batches, but those were partial mash - around 4 pounds of grain and 1-6 pounds extract depending on the brew. the 2.5 gallon brews used about 4.5 pounds of grain, no extract (mostly my kick ass Oktoberfest) Just trying to manage a way to a full boil with least amount of work, and moving of hot liquids, as well as no additional costs at this time.

Danny good point on the DMS, I didn't take that into consideration.

Gotcha. Then, I think I would get a pump before getting a bigger kettle. Once you get the big kettle, you'll have hell moving things around. Once I got a pump, I could brew by myself. I didn't have to lift a kettle of boiling liquid to head height to set up the gravity drain through the counterflow wort chiller.