Captain Tex

Recipes 

Okay, one last question before I get started.

Most of the tutorials I've read on the web say to first boil half your water, put that in the fermentation bucket, then boil your malt extract with the rest of the water, then add your yeast (that's been sitting in warm water) into the bucket, and then aggressively add your boiled malt extract.

However, the directions that came with my AHS honey wheat say to first boil your malt in half the water, add that to the bucket, then add the rest of the (cool) water, then add the yeast (that's been sitting in warm water), and stir.

Should I go with the latter since that's what the directions say? Will it really make any difference either way?

Thanks!
CT

Beerrific

Recipes 

Makes no difference.

I like adding cold water on top of the wort, helps cool and aerate.

Also, IMHO, I don't think you need to boil the water that you top up with.

KopyKat

Recipes 

No difference as far as I can tell. The last way is the only way I am familiar with.

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pfranco81

Recipes 

There is no reason to boil your water first, tap water is cleaned and treated with chlorine so there isn't any real risk of infection (unless you're using well water or any other un-treated water). On top of that boiling your water first removes all the oxygen from it. Freshly drawn tap water is aerated and (around me at least) is around 68 degrees, which helps cool my wort down that much faster.

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DeathBrewer

Recipes 

i usually do about a 2.5-3 gallon boil, cool it to about 70 F, then i top off with 70 F tap water. A smaller boil is easier to cool, it usually only takes me about 20-30 minutes, so that's one benefit. aeration is another.

supposedly, oakland has some of the cleanest water anywhere, however, so i might not do it if i lived in, say, LA (bleagh)

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Captain Tex

Recipes 

After you add the cold water and yeast to the boiled malt extract mixture in the bucket, about how much do you stir it before calling it a day and putting on the lid?

david_42

Recipes 

Stir lots. The more oxygen you get into the wort at this point the better. 5-10 minutes with a big whisk or spoon is reasonable.

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Captain Tex

Recipes 

Sweet, that's about how long I stirred it for. All done! Now I just gotta wait a week or so before transferring to the secondary. The yeast I used that came with the kit wasn't the best (didn't seem terribly active after sitting in the warm water for 20 minutes), but hopefully it'll be fine.

Thanks again everyone for all the help!
CT