Making Extract in grainfather

[jimboh]

Until now I have been using my grainfather for all grain brewing. I thought I would give an extract kit a go in the GF as it will be a useful fallback during the summer when I find it difficult to regularly allot the time necessary for an all grain brew.

The extract kit calls for seeping and boiling in around 7litres of water. and adding very cold water for a swift cool.
As I can use my GF chiller to cool the wort at the end of the boil, would it be better brew quality wise, to make up the full 23 litres pre-boil (or even pre seeping of grains)?
My gut feeling is it would.

Or should I forget Extracts altogether or just do them on a pot on the stove?

Any comment?

[McGruff]

I brewed a Brew Canada draught kit plus a few lbs. of 2 row a couple of months ago. I have an old 5 gallon mash pail and made a 3 gallon batch of just 2 row and some Hallertauer hops. Tossed that in along with the kit and topped up with a gallon of water in a 23 L carboy. Tasted way better than just using the kit.

[jimboh]

I brewed yesterday. I heated 12L on the stove and added the malt and glucose. At the same time I heated 10L in the GF to 155F and seeped the grains for 20mins as per the kit instructions.
I then turned both the stove and the GF up to near boil and then combined the full 22L in the grainfather and brought to the boil. Added hops and boiled for 30mins.
Its now in the fermenter.
I was hoping one of the brewing experts could shed light on whether there is going to be any benefit at all in boiling the full 23L with malt and hops rather than just boiling say 10L and adding 12L of cold water when adding to the fermenter.
If there is going to be no improvement then it would be easier just to do the whole thing on a pot on the stove, and quicker because of the longer time to boil on the GF.

Unfortunately I never made this Noble Grape recipe (Northern Lights) as per the extract kit instructions so I have nothing to compare with. Perhaps I will make the next kit that way.

[elreplica]

I brewed yesterday. I heated 12L on the stove and added the malt and glucose. At the same time I heated 10L in the GF to 155F and seeped the grains for 20mins as per the kit instructions.
I then turned both the stove and the GF up to near boil and then combined the full 22L in the grainfather and brought to the boil. Added hops and boiled for 30mins.
Its now in the fermenter.
I was hoping one of the brewing experts could shed light on whether there is going to be any benefit at all in boiling the full 23L with malt and hops rather than just boiling say 10L and adding 12L of cold water when adding to the fermenter.
If there is going to be no improvement then it would be easier just to do the whole thing on a pot on the stove, and quicker because of the longer time to boil on the GF.

Unfortunately I never made this Noble Grape recipe (Northern Lights) as per the extract kit instructions so I have nothing to compare with. Perhaps I will make the next kit that way.

There's an online video of a guy doing extracts using the GF...the only caveat I saw was about the need to be careful to not scorch the bottom...

[RubberToe]

The specific gravity of your boil volume will effect your hop utilization. For example if you withhold some water until the end, making your boil more concentrated / higher gravity, it will end up being slightly less bitter given the same amount of hops you'd normally use. I think beersmith does the appropriate calculation on your hop usage.