[flbrewer]

Doing an extract brew today or tomorrow and I have a question about kettle size. I have a 4 gallon kettle and a 10 gallon kettle. The recipe is a partial boil (I know, I know) and only calls for 2.5 gallons in the brew kettle. Is there any difference whether I use the 4 or 10 gallon kettle?

[Slowbrew]

Either will work fine.  I would probably use the 4 gal pot to avoid too much evaporation during the boil (assuming it is more narrow than the 10 gal pot).

Other than that you could do a full boil in the 10 gal if you have a way to cool it.

Paul.

[flbrewer]

Yeah, I'm going to stick to partial only because I don't want to screw up this recipe...I paid entirely too much for this kit! 

[a10t2]

Other than that you could do a full boil in the 10 gal if you have a way to cool it.

Unless it's supposed to be very lightly colored or very bitter, I would always do a partial boil for extract. There are no efficiency concerns, so why waste the fuel?

Plus, if you use ice made the day before you can top off and chill at the same time.

[flbrewer]

Great, thanks gents!

[morticaixavier]

Other than that you could do a full boil in the 10 gal if you have a way to cool it.

Unless it's supposed to be very lightly colored or very bitter, I would always do a partial boil for extract. There are no efficiency concerns, so why waste the fuel?

Plus, if you use ice made the day before you can top off and chill at the same time.

this is one of those things I try to explain to people and they just don't seem to get it. There seems to be an inherent fear/predjudice in the homebrewing community surrounding ice. But it's great for this. 32* ice takes 30 times as much energy to melt and heat to 33* than heating 33* water to 34*.