Beer Forum

I'm about to buy a new kettle so I have the ability to do a full 6.5 gallon boil. Not ready for all grain yet, but someday. I'm wondering if there is any advantage to doing a full boil over a partial boil in extract brewing. Seems like doing a partial may still be more efficient when it comes to cooling the wort. Less water to use in the chiller. Any reason to go full?

Absolutely. Concentrated wort of a partial boil is more succeptible to carmelization, and you get worse hop utilization due to the higher gravity boil. I noticed a BIG change in my extract beers back in the day when I went to the full boil. It's one of the 3 reasons for, what I call, the "deli case taste" of bad homebrew - carmelization, and underattenuation and fruity esters from a hot ferment.


Mylo

+1 Mylo.

The thing about full boils though that many newbies don't realize is that it's a 3 piece equipment upgrade from brewing on the stove:

1) A big enough pot
2) A powerful enough burner -- usually needs to move out to the turkey fryer
3) A wort chiller

Worth EVERY penny though. THe difference will be noticed right away.
TEMP CONTROL is next.

Totally, I'm alredy brewing on my big ass camping stove, and made a chiller for my last batch. I'm keeping my eyes on CL for a free/cheap fridge for fermenting. Gets pretty damn hot in my house in the summer.

I haven't been able to afford a new kettle to boil a full 5 gallons so I use my current 5 gallon kettle and do 3 gallon batches. Beer goes a little faster but I get to brew more often.