How much H2O?

Hey guys,

I'm brewing my first american wheat beer, I steep grains with 2.5 gallons of water for 30 min then add dme? Do I add the rest of the water with the dme? That's how I make my IPAs.. But from what I'm ready it says to only use 2.5 gallons, add dme, then after the 60 min boil it says to add to 3 gallons of cold water into fermentor. What's the right way? Please let me know

 

It is giving you instructions for a partial boil. Basically the rule of thumb is to boil with as much water as your brew pot will allow. Ideally you would be able to do a full volume boil and not need to add any top off water at the end. When I extract brewed I always steeped my grains in my full boil volume. Supposedly the only reason they tell you to steep in less than the full volume is due to possible pH issues, but I've never had any issue.

 

Many extract brewers can't manage a full 5 gallon boil. You really only need to boil around the 2.5 gallons unlike you would for all grain because you're not extracting the sugars in the mash. It's already done for you, you're just using the heat and time to utilize the hops and to break the carbohydrate chains down so that the yeast can eat them.

IMO, when extract brewing, I think a smaller boil is handy since adding the top off water allows you to get down to pitching temp much faster.