I typically do full 5 gallon boils on all grain batches. I recieved an extract kit as a gift and directions call to boil about 2.5 gallons then mix with 2.5 gallons of cold water to the fermenter. If I have capacity to boil the full 5 gallons, so shouldn't I do this? Any disadvantages of doing the cold water addition? I can see the advantage of adding the 2.5 gallons of cold water..... it will cool the hot wort down to pitching temerature in a hurry. Any comments?
Full boil is better. Partial boil is a workaround for not having a big enough kettle or a big enough fire. Disadvantages of partial boil are darker color and more melanoidins than the style likely needs, and lower hop utilization.
