Amount of boiling water?

I only have a 4 gallon brewpot. What would be the amount of water I should start boiling with? I have read different ideas from 2 gallons to 3 gallons. Just seeing what would work best.

Realistically you can start with four if you wanted to. Since more than likely you are going to top up to five gallons in the primary. but you will need to leave enough room for your other ingredients. It is all up to what you want to do. you will have to vary your hops (slightly) with different size boils. But if you are just sarting out it shouldn't make too much of a difference. Good Luck

Cheers

Since you are an extract brewer, you should check the recipe. Most I imagine are less than 3 gallons, probably 2. This is especially true if you are steeping specialty grains. HB99 goes with 1.5 IIRC.

There are a number of reasons for this: post boil O2 content, the difficulty in cooling a larger boil volume, etc.

You should also look into late extract addition, but perhaps after you have one or 2 batchs under your belt.


Whats the first batch going to be?

ETA: Go lower. You will get boilovers with 3 or more in a 4 g pot.

I would use two gallons. I also have a four gallon pot and a two gallon boil is the norm for me. With all that pot space, as long as you leave it uncovered you have almost zero risk of boil-over. This is reason enough in my opinion.

I only do 1.5 gal boils.

List your ingredients/recipe and I'll get back to you.