Beer Snob

Recipes 

I am thinking of doing a 3 gal batch and was thinking I can just boil the whole thing in a 5 gal brewpot. What is the difference in brewing 3 gals or a portion of 3 gals and adding water?

__________________
Michael

"Don't worry, have a homebrew." ,"The "Bible"

Cherries in the wheat
Michael's Wheat

lmnop

Recipes 

The difference is partial boil vs full boil; mainly it comes down to this: if you have the ability to do a full boil (boil 3 gallons for a 3 gal batch) then that will give you the best result. If you can't, then it will still turn out fine and lots of people do it that way.

Do note that for a partial boil, because you will be adding plain water into the mix, you will be using more hops or getting less bitterness from the same amount of hops.

hiberntepaths

Recipes 

Hop utilization will be less if you add water at the end. You can add more hops to make up for it, or do a "late addition" for your extract or grains...after the wort has been boiling for a while.

I've had success boiling 3 or 4 gallons and topping off with water at the end. You might just have to make a couple adjustments to compensate.