I have been brewing for awhile now, have brewed 5 all grain batches which have turned out decent. I have been using a 28qt brew kettle so I can only boil 4 gallons at once. I then just add cool water to the fermenter to bring it up to 6.5. First question is does this affect the product, and 2nd question should I be using more malt in general since its essentially being diluted. Thanks for the help.
I would say that yes, it does make a difference in my experience. Several factors come into play. First, I always found that partial wort boils wound up with a darker end-product for me (although I was boiling significantly less than 4 gallons, probably more like 2.5). Second, I think it also created a bit more ‘twang’ factor that made me think the ‘extract’ flavor that many describe as ‘extract twang’ was more a byproduct of partial wort boiling since it went away with full wort boils, even those using extract. Third, yes, you’ll need to plan your recipe around that dilution.
Thankyou for the input
Hop extraction is also reduced when boiling a concentrated wort.