How much water to boil?

[buzzbee]

I have a AHS irish red ale kit.
It says to bring 2 1/2 gallons to 155 then steep grains.After doing all additions ,cooling and putting in fermenter,it says add cool water to bring to 5 1/4 gallons. can we initailly boil a larger batch of water,say 4 gallons instead of 2 1/2? Or will it make a difference in the end product?
I thought maybe they do it this way so it's easier to boil if you do it on a stove top.
Thanks,Ken

 

[chrislehr]

I thought this was odd about the AHS kits as well. I usually do the 5 gallon full boil since the extract dilutes quicker and I won't risk burning it as much. Plus I like the idea of boiling it all for sanity purposes. Starting at 5 gallons, I still had to add a half gallon fresh at the end, so I guess you still need too, but I have a propane burner.. if I was indoors for the boil, 2.5 gallons sure makes it easier to get going on a kitchen stove.

 

[TipsyDragon]

the kit is designed for 2.5 gallons. all the math for hops additions and boil times has already been done for you. if you changed the amount of water to 4 gallons you will lower the boil gravity which will raise the bitterness you get from the hops.