First Runnings Boil Down Question (Magic Elixir)

Hi all,

I am going to be making a Russian Imperial Stout in which I'll be taking a gallon or so of first runnings, adding a bit of turbinado sugar, and boiling it down to around a pint. I've used this method before (both with and without extra sugar) in order to impart more rich caramel flavor and depth. My question is, should I add a bit more sparge water to compensate for the loss of boil volume, or should I just keep my volumes as they would be if I weren't doing the boil down (as I've done in the past).

Cheers.

Bump

You could up your sparge water or top up before you boil. I don't think that you will see a huge difference with one over the other. Extra sparge water might aid in a bit better efficiency.