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2-part question... full boil vs. partial and using wood chips

The Drizzle

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i'm relatively new to brewing and i do partial mash. just wondering if its more beneficial to do a full boil rather than a partial and what are the differences rather than the obvious liquid volume?.....2nd question - i have an IPA in the fermenter right now and the recipe calls for adding oak chips after the first week, never done that before. is there anything special i need to do to the wood chips before i add them? should i put them in a hop sock or just straight into the fermenter? i'm kind of afraid of the possibility of having tiny wood fibers in the beer during bottling. thanks for any help :)
 
Drizzle,
          I brew in a bag now so I don't do partials anymore but I think I barely boiled them. If I remember correctly you are just extracting flavors not creating sugars. Too vigorous boiling will drive them off? Not sure if I understood your question?
       
As to the second part of your question. I use oak chips that I buy from my local beer/wine shop. They are intended for wine but beer is fine too. I just dump in the chips in a secondary and forget them. I do shake them up a few times because, "wood floats"!  Before draining into a keg/bottling-bucket I leave them settle to keep sediment down.
 
just wondering if its more beneficial to do a full boil rather than a partial and what are the differences rather than the obvious liquid volume?
I have done a few partial mash before I got into all grain and if I'm on the same track as you than your going to want a full boil. I'm assuming you are steeping your grain at around 150 or so for a half hour at least. If so your also converting sugars as well as extracting flavor. You need the boil to bring out the flavors as well as sterilize your wort and brake down the proteins or your going to end up with a haze problem in your finished brew. The longer you boil the more the heat will work on the sugars and help pull out and blend the flavors. It also helps you get a good extraction from your hops.  Just steep for a half hour and maintain your heat at a constant level than add it to your pot and start your boil. If your not using a grain bag than strain the heck out of it before you add it to the pot to get all the husks out of it.  You shouldn't need more than 60 minuets but if you want some more complex taste than go for 90 but don't start adding your hops until the last 60.  ;D
 
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