How do you do a full boil?

Doing my first full boil extract right now. Partial or full I haven't had any problems with boil over. I just add ingredients slowly and stir heavily. The stirring motion seems to keep everything running smoothly.

Good luck. Just finished (eating) my first bbq'd baby back ribs smoked in a UDS. They came out great and real good with home brew.

Yooper said:

1. I'd start with about 5.5-6 gallons since you don't know what you're going to boil off the first time. You can still top off to 5 gallons if you boil off more than you think, but you can't take it out! When you get a rolling boil going, add your first hops and set the timer for an hour and finish the boil at the right time. The hops are what are timed, so that's the important thing. Or you can do a test boil- boil water for an hour and measure how much you boiled off. Your boil off will be the same with wort or with water, so then you'll know how much to start with.

3. Yes. Put them loosely in the bag, so that they are not packed in. Use more than one bag if you need to.

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Got my 11 gallon stainless steel pot and drilled a hole and installed the bulkhead and spout. Got my propane heat source, and I'm ready to go!

One question: I understand that it's the timing of the addition of hops that matters - but I've read a couple of threads on the forum that suggest that the amount of hops used in a partial boil recipe needs to be altered for a full-boil method. Less hops, I believe, to avoid making the beer too bitter. Would the Beersmith software allow me to convert partial boil extract recipes to full boil extract recipes in terms of adjusting the amount of hops used?

EDIT: Ah, never mind; you answered the question here. Thank you for your help.

Just wanted to say thanks in advance. This thread answered the majority of my questions, just one left.

If I do a full boil and add only 1/3-1/2 of the extract at the beginning of the boil, does it matter if it's LME or DME?

My next kit, Caribou Slobber, has 1lb DME and 6lbs LME. Can I add the 1lb DME at boil and the 6lbs LME at ~10min?

Just used BeerSmith to calculate the amount of hops to use for a 5.75 gallon full boil down to 5.2 gallons. I assume that some will be left behind when I open the spout and put the wort in my primary fermenter, for a batch size of 5 gallons.

From John Palmer's "Port O'Palmer" recipe I changed the hops accordingly:

From the original .5 oz Horizon (12%) to 4.5 oz (60 minutes)
From the original .75 oz Williamette (5%) to .64 oz (40 minutes)
From the original .5 oz Williamette (5%) to 4.oz (20 minutes)

All of the rest of the original recipe remained the same except that I did increase the amount of Pale Liquid Malt Extract slightly to get to the OG suggested by the original recipe. I plan to put in about 1/4 at the start of the boil, and 3/4 towards the end.

All the other markers (bitterness, color, abv) basically the same, and the markers also fell squarely with the parameters of a Robust Porter style, according to BeerSmith, although at 5.0 % abv it is slightly less than what I wanted.

Two questions: (1) Are BeerSmith's calculations based on the pre-boil volume of 5.75 gallons? (2) Can I assume that the Williamette hops (5%) are added twice because the first time is for taste, and the second time is for aroma?

EDIT: Never mind. BS's calculations are based on the gravity of the wort. I am going to assume therefore, that adding most of the liquid extract towards the end of the boil can only help to preserve the %/IBU's given in the calculations.