2 or 3 Gallons?

[BBQBrew]

I'm getting ready to do my first brew! Since I'm unable to do full boils at the moment I wanted to know if it is better to do 2 or 3 gallons in my brew kettle? I was thinking if I did a 2 gallon boil I would be able to cool the wort much faster with 3 gallons of cold water in my carboy?!?

 

[homebrewer_99]

I do 1.5 gal boils and top off to 5 gals with water.

I put 1 gal milk-style jugs into a deep freezer for several hours prior to brewing.

 

[brewhead]

1-2 gal boils here and similar practices as Homebrewer Bill with the chilled water

 

[D-brewmeister]

It is generally advisable to boil as much of your total wort volume as possible, as boiling less wort makes the sugars much more dense in the solution (higher specific gravity) which has a negative impact on hop utilization. Also, scorching seems to be more likely if you are adding extract to a thick wort - it is just harder to get it to fully disolve in a smaller volume of liquid.

 

[homebrewer_99]

True....

Message too short.....

 

[Buddhabuddha]

I boil 3 gallons

put one "iceeee" cold gallon at the bottom of the fermentor, then put the whole kettle in a cold water bath until it drops to about 80-100 degrees...(preferably 80) Then I top it off with another gallon of cold water..

It doesn't usually take tooo long to cool the wort.

 

[AlaskaAl(e)]

I usually start with 5 1/2G and by the time the boil is done I have more like 4 1/2. No problem tho because I add a bag of ice to the wort (brings it down to around 80) then pour into the 6 1/2G carboy and top up to 5G with cold tap water and it's all good. Works well for me since I still brew on my stove top and have limited kitchen space.