boil size?

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rflach1

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i'm a newbie and about to start my 3rd brew. my 1st two brews have been darker than i anticipated and i've posted this problem on this forum before and it was suggested that there is scorching of the wort during the boil. my question is which is theoretically better: boiling the wort with say 1 gal of water (more concentrated wort) and then topping off the wort to 5 gal once in the primary OR boiling the whole 5 gal product together (more dilute wort) and then transfering to the primary and maybe topping off anything that might have evaporated? With my equipment, it would be impossible to boil 5 gals of wort, but i could probably try to maximize the size of my boil(maybe about 4 gal) if it would help make a better beer. Thanks.
 
I am very new to this hobby as well but I just got to believe that boiling as much as you can will definately be better. It has been said that adding the malt extract some time towards the end of the boil will produce a lighter color.
 
A larger boil will help prevent scorching, but from a brewing standpoint the biggest plus is better utilization of your bittering hops. Going from one gallon to three will double the amount of bittering for a given amount of hops (or you need half as much hops for the same bittering).
 
David 42 is right. The larger the boil, the better the utilization. Before trying a larger boil, be sure you have the means to chill it within a reasonable amount of time.

Wild
 
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