Boil size?

[HoshBrew]

Hi guys, I got a extract recipe from somewhere online and it talks about heating 1 gallon of water to 155 and then steep the oats. It then says add more water to bring to 2 gallons and add the 6lb extract and start the boil for 60 min. There are some additions I'm leaving out but my main question is with the 2 gal. boil. It's a 5 gallon recipe but it just has a 2 gallon boil then top off in the primary to the full 5 gallons, does that sound weird to anyone or is that a normal practice? Thanks

 

[JonK331]

You should have as much water in the boil as your kettle will fit. The closer you can get to a full boil the better.

 

[HoshBrew]

That's what I was thinking. I can then add a little water in the fermenter to get to the full 5 to replace what I lose in the boil right?

 

[Yooper]

That's what I was thinking. I can then add a little water in the fermenter to get to the full 5 to replace what I lose in the boil right?

Yes, that's right.

 

[HoshBrew]

Or should I boil more then 5 so it reduces to the 5 gallons?

 

[JonK331]

Or should I boil more then 5 so it reduces to the 5 gallons?

If you have the capacity in the kettle then yes. I boil ~6.5 gallons to get ~5 gallons after the boil.