I started off brewing with BrewUK extract recipe packs, which make 20-23L brews using DME but with a reduced boil volume of 6-8L so you can make them on a stovetop with a stock pot.
I've since moved onto AG and have employed the same method, a lower-volume boil (typically 10L) then topped up to volume (typically 17L) with cold water in the FV. It worked (sort-of). I used the old Brewmate software for recipe which didn't have a boil volume option.
Following some threads on here, I plugged the figures into the newer Brewers Friend which does allow you to set boil volume, and setting 10L shows I've been under-hitting my bitterness for a long time by 6-10 IBUs. I kinda new something was amiss but couldn't put my finger on it, so this is a bit of a breakthrough, although my beers have been great, just some of them a bit average.
I presume the IBU difference is the same for Extract as AG, as you're boiling a reduced-volume wort with hops. So do those recipes account for the reduced-volume boil? Gonna try an AG recipe this week compensating for the reduced boil volume with more hops to hit the target IBU, to see if I notice the results.
Any thoughts - have I interpreted this correct? Or is Extract different because you only start the boil with about 50% or less of the DME, and I've read that the higher the gravity the less the hop utilisation? Can't believe I've been brewing 8 years and missed this...d'oh!
I've since moved onto AG and have employed the same method, a lower-volume boil (typically 10L) then topped up to volume (typically 17L) with cold water in the FV. It worked (sort-of). I used the old Brewmate software for recipe which didn't have a boil volume option.
Following some threads on here, I plugged the figures into the newer Brewers Friend which does allow you to set boil volume, and setting 10L shows I've been under-hitting my bitterness for a long time by 6-10 IBUs. I kinda new something was amiss but couldn't put my finger on it, so this is a bit of a breakthrough, although my beers have been great, just some of them a bit average.
I presume the IBU difference is the same for Extract as AG, as you're boiling a reduced-volume wort with hops. So do those recipes account for the reduced-volume boil? Gonna try an AG recipe this week compensating for the reduced boil volume with more hops to hit the target IBU, to see if I notice the results.
Any thoughts - have I interpreted this correct? Or is Extract different because you only start the boil with about 50% or less of the DME, and I've read that the higher the gravity the less the hop utilisation? Can't believe I've been brewing 8 years and missed this...d'oh!
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