WTF? Knowledge is confusing.

Real simple question. With the extract kits. Or at least anything that calls for a partial boil.....

Do I need 2.5 gallons to start the boil or 2.5 gallons after the boil? The BB instructions say to dump 2.5 gallons of water into you brew kettle, bring to a boil....... But this leads to me adding something like 3 gallons to top up? Could this make a beer thin?

I have a American Cream Ale BB kit that was my first. It turned out goodish, for the first one anyway, but it seems to lack body. Very thin tasting. Maybe it's the kit, maybe it's something else I did. (I was WAY more comfortable doing the second one after reading this site and Palmer's)

I'm not too worried about it because it is still decent beer, but I would like the next beer to be better than the last. (And I want a better understanding of how all this works.

Is there a rule of thumb on how many gallons per hour boils off? That probably depends on burner BTUs, kettle diameter, etc, ......... ramble, ramble, ramble

Boil with as much volume as your kettle can handle, or how much your burner can keep boiling. 1 gallon an hour is a conservative estimate on boil off. Topping up doesn't make the beer taste thing because extract is already a super concentrated wort anyway but there are some concerns with hop utilization in a over concentrated boil. 2.5 gallons out of 5 total is reasonable but if you can boil 6 gallons, go for it.

+1. Boil as much as you can and then add what you need to add in order to get to 5 gallons.

I agree that you should boil as much as you can. But it doesn't matter much how much you boil, because the SG should come out the same however you do it.

The end gravity will be the same but concentrated boils do have some limits in max IBU so if you're brewing an IPA, it does matter.

If your recipe calls for a 2.5 gal boil and you boil 5 instead the final product will not taste as intended since you'll get more hop utilization. If you use a brew calculator like brewsmith or brewr(for an Android device) you can play with the recipe to adjust.

I did a BB kit for my first brew last week. I followed the directions by using 2.5 gallons of water. After an hour boil I had 1.5 gallons of concentrated wort. I had to top up with 3.5 gallons. After reading this sight non-stop for the past week, I've concluded that I will do a full boil with 6 gallons and adjust the hops via Beersmith if needed.

HexKrak said:

If your recipe calls for a 2.5 gal boil and you boil 5 instead the final product will not taste as intended since you'll get more hop utilization. If you use a brew calculator like brewsmith or brewr(for an Android device) you can play with the recipe to adjust.

Click to expand...

this is my understanding as well. your wort volume is very important in the level of hoppiness in your beer. if you are measuring to the right OG after adding the water in your fermenter, not sure why you beer would be more watered down. All you are losing in the boil is steam (H2O), right?

Bobby_M said:

The end gravity will be the same but concentrated boils do have some limits in max IBU so if you're brewing an IPA, it does matter.

Click to expand...

Point taken. I guess if you mess with boil volumes you may need to adjust your hop additions a bit.

That said, I like to use this Tinseth Calculator:

http://www.realbeer.com/hops/bcalc_js.html

Bobby_M said:

The end gravity will be the same but concentrated boils do have some limits in max IBU so if you're brewing an IPA, it does matter.

Click to expand...

Not to question the expert here, but what about the examples of this being a myth presented here?

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f37/late-addition-hop-utilization-188394/

It sounds like all the big names are changing their opinion on this. I was disappointed to see that the conversation in the linked thread died so quickly.

I boil as much as I can fit in the pot. Despite the 2.5 gallon recommendation in the directions.