1.5 gal or 3 gal when steeping?

[billpaustin]

The latest kit I got said to steep in 1.5-2 gallons, and more was better. How much more? Does it really matter?

My other batches were done in 3 gal, but that takes longer to boil, longer to cool, etc. Is it worth it? Or is 1.5 or 2 gal good enough?

 

[Face Eater]

If it takes too long to boil 3+ gallons I would say stick with the 1.5-2 gallons. More would be better but with that small amount of a jump I wouldn't say you would be missing out by that much.

 

[unionrdr]

Yeah,1.5 gallons is plenty to steep in. Then maybe sparge with a gallon at 165F if you can handle boiling @ 2.5 gallons total.

 

[Viator]

If just steeping, a safe ratio is 2 qt water: 1 lb grain. Anything above 3:1 can lead to leaching of other things out of the grains. I think this has something to do with resulting pH.

The total boil volume is a preference thing. Technically, the more volume in the total boil should be better for things like hop utilization. But, the result may not be worth the extra aggravation to you. When doing a split boil, I generally top off, after the seep, to the most I can safely boil including the LME and DME.