Honey Steamer recipe help

I am going to brew a Honey Steamer that I found on byo.com from the reciple below, but I have a couple of questions mainly I wanted to know if what I am changing is going to change the flavor much if any.

1. The receipe calls for only a 2 gallon boil, with 9lbs of fermentables isn't a 3 gallon boil a better idea?

2. I want to use 1lb of crystal malt, 40L instead of the 0.5 lb. Should I steep less or more if I use more grain and more water?


HONEY STEAMER

5 gallons, extract/specialty grains

Gary & Elisa Wilder
Brew Your Own Brew
Tucson, Ariz.

"Very smooth with a light sweetness and 6.7 percent alcohol by volume."

Ingredients:

6.5 lbs. light malt extract syrup
0.5 lb. crystal malt, 40L
2.5 lbs. honey
1 oz. Bullion hops (8.1% alpha acid), for 25 min.
1 oz. Cluster hops (7.4% alpha acid), for 10 min.
1/3 oz. Irish moss
Wyeast 2112 (California)

Step by Step:

Add crystal malt (in bag) to 2 gals. cold water. Slowly bring to 170° F. Remove grains, bring liquid to boil, and add extract and honey. Boil for 35 minutes, then add Bullion hops. Boil for 15 more minutes, and then add Cluster hops and Irish moss. Boil 10 minutes. Total boil is 60 minutes. Remove from heat and cool. Add water to make 5 gals. Pitch yeast. Prime with corn sugar.

Boiling 3 gals will increase your hops utilization and therefore your bitterness. You should adjust by decreasing the early hops addition slightly.
There should be no problem with increasing the crystal, you will just get more malt sweetness.
To get more flavor from the honey add it to the wort after cooling or dilute it in a small amount of water and add it after the ferment starts to slow down.

Craig

Thank you for the quick reply.
When you say cut down on the early hop addition, I take it you mean the amount not the time. Since the first hops are only added at the last 25 mins how much should I cut them by, 0.5 oz maybe?

Thanks for the heads up on the honey, but I think this one will be a dryer beer with more of an ABV kick, so I will stick with the recipe.