Precise boiling?

I have cooked some beers that tasted burnt even though I had steeped correctly. I was told I boiled too hot. Thoughts? Since then I have managed my boil right at the boiling point. I sometimes dip out of boil momentarily and never let the boil become violent. I have been coming up shy of my projected abv on the last few batches and was wondering if my boil was a factor. I brew 5 gallons extract and cook 2.5 gallons and combine the rest.

Thanks

You aren't boiling the steeping grains are you? It is pretty close to impossible to miss OG or your ABV with extract brews since the conversion is already done for you. As long as you let it ferment long enough you should hit your numbers perfectly.
One thing I can think of is... are you stirring when you pour in your extract and not letting it scorch or burn on the bottom of the pot?

I was using more water than 5 gallons that was my original gravity issue my other issue was that I did not stir dry malt very well the first couple of times. I was diluting my beer which caused my gravity to fall short. I wasn't boiling my steep grains

Are you making sure to mix the extract thoroughly? If any of it Carmelizes or burns on the bottom of the boil kettle it can cause some burnt flavors to be present especially if it happens right at the beginning of a 60 minute boil. Do you add your extract at 60 minutes or split it between 60 and 15 minutes.
Also shut off the heat when stirring in extract.

You can't boil too hot.

I ensure that nothing gets Burnt or stuck to the bottom of my brew kettle. I did, now that you mention it, have some scrubbing to do when I had the bad batches. "can't boil to hot" is what I was looking for, thanks!

Water boils at 212 degrees and will stay at that temperature until all the water is gone (at sea level and not under pressure). It can't get "too hot." However, the bottom of the pot could scorch the extract if you leave the heat on while you add the extract. Turn off the heat and make sure the extract has completely dissolved before you turn it back on.

As for being shy of your projected OG, be sure you thoroughly mix that water you are adding at the end. If you don't, the less dense added water will be at the top of the denser wort and your OG reading will be way less than the total if it had been all mixed together. Eventually it will all even out as the yeast action roils the wort but your hydrometer will not read correctly at first.