My first batch of beer came out absolutely terrible so I'm making another attempt tomorrow. I'm confused on how much water to actually use. One set of instructions say to boil 5 gallons of water, another says 2.5, then add 2.5 cold to the fermenter. But wouldnt this infect the beer?
If you can boil the full volume that is best. Of course you will need to boil more than 5 gallons because you want to END at five gallons. As for infecting the beer: not unless you failed to sanitize properly. The reason you might want to boil only part of your wort and then add it to water is to cool the wort quickly enough to AVOID infection (and because you might not have a large enough pot to boil 6 gallons without a boilover).
the total volume for most recipes will be 5gal. If it says to use 2.5 for your boil then top off that is fine. Use bottled water or you can pre-boil tap to sterilize it then cool it down. Some guys here use their tap water straight up, but I don't think Id recommend it in most cases.
tonight was my first brew session. I boiled 2 gallons for the wort (slightly over 2 gallons to allow for evaporation) and then I dumped the wort in the fermenter and poured another 3 gallons bottled water in and stirred.
I boiled 2 gallons for the wort (slightly over 2 gallons to allow for evaporation) and then I dumped the wort in the fermenter and poured another 3 gallons bottled water in and stirred.
Some folks will tell you to be careful with hot wort (i.e. rack it as opposed to "dumping" it; or cool it in your brewpot then you are okay to "dump" it). Once you are at pitching temperature you should aerate the heck out of it.
how much water?
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