Full Boil or Partial Boil

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dgoldb1

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I'm in the process of gearing up to do my first extract brew with the following kit:

http://www.midwestsupplies.com/ferocious-ipa.html

I would like to do a full boil but I'm unsure when to add the full 5.5 gallons? I've read that when you steep you shouldn't have the full 5.5 gallons. should I steep with 1.5gal and then add the 4.5gal after the 30 min steeping process?

Thanks
 
I normally steep with 1.5-2 gallons for 30 minutes at 150, then I top off to 6g (lose 1g to evaporation over an hour) and start my boil.

The reason you don't want to steep with more water than necessary is that it is easier to pull tannins out of the grain, though it seems to be debateable.
 
I've never heard this before, although I HAVE been told not to squeeze the bag in order to avoid tannins. Maybe related?

Regardless, I always steep with a full 6 gallons, and have never had a problem.
 
I would steep in a smaller pot while you heat water up in the bigger pot. With 4oz you probably don't need to use to much water. I think the rule of thumb is 1-3 quarts per pound of grains. The biggest time sink in my brew day is waiting for water to boil so I try to heat up water while doing other things.
 
I'm getting some mixed information. John Palmers, "how to brew" says to boil 2 gallons in pot and then put 3 gallons of water in your fermentor making 5 gallons. Just curious as to why he doesn't mention anything about doing a full boil.
 
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