Hi all,
So I read the following artical in Brew your own about not doing concentrated boils. The kits I get are always concentrated boils. Anybody have some info on this. This is the article:
Do a Full Wort Boil
There has been some debate about this topic, but in my opinion if you’re doing concentrated boils you’re never going to produce flawless beers. If you’re brewing 5 gallons (19 L) of beer, then you should start with at least 6 gallons (23 L) of wort, and this is particularly true for very pale-colored and/or very hoppy beers.
A concentrated boil can work against you in a number of ways. One result of a concentrated boil is increased melanoidin formation via the Maillard reaction (often incorrectly referred to as “kettle caramelization”), which produces a darker colored beer and may also change the flavor profile in undesirable ways. A concentrated boil will also decrease hop utilization, which can leave you with an under bittered, unbalanced beer if lower hop utilization is not considered. If you can’t fit all of your wort into one kettle, or can’t get it all to boil over one burner, split it into two kettles (aka the “Texas two-step” method). If you must do a concentrated boil, consider utilizing a late extract addition (reserving a portion of your extract and adding it at the end of the boil), which can help combat some of the problems that arise with a concentrated boil.