Brewer's Best GF Ale tips needed

[Toastman]

Just like many on this forum, I've been brewing for many years, but this is my first GF batch. I'm brewing it for my wife and her friend to split. We recently moved from Chicago to Mexico, so I just snagged a Brewer's Best GF kit and brought it with me on the drive. So basically, I just have this one kit, there's no way I'm walking down to the corner bodega for more ingredients so I want to do this one as best as possible. I've read some threads about different times adding the syrup (at beginning and then at end), but now I can't seem to find those threads.
So any special tips specifically slanted toward this kit would be great and very helpful.
The kit comes with
6.6 lb. Sorghum
1 lb candi syrup
8 oz maltodextrine
1 spice pack
2 oz Cascade total

I believe too I have some extra Amarillo hops I'd like to add in at some time to punch up the hop flavor a little.

 

[glutarded-chris]

The most relevant factor is the hop utilization drops with increased wart gravity, so it is best to not have a high gravity initial boil. If you are boiling 3 or so gallons and then adding water at the end, then it would be best to add some of the fermentables at the end. I always added the Belgian candy syrup at the end because I wanted to make sure the boil did not reduce the flavor it contributed. Also, it is dissolves quickly which makes things easy.

The way I did it was to start the boil with the sorghum syrup and then add the rest at the end. One reason I did it that way was because the sorghum syrup is thick and you have to wait with the flame off to insure all is dissolved before returning the heat.

You can do some calculations based on your boil kettle size. A good rule of thumb is shoot for an initial boil gravity of about 1.040. Add the rest at the end of the boil. I usually made sure all final additions stay in the hot wart for 10 minutes before dropping temperature. At the hot wart temperature, it should pasteurize fairly quickly, but I like to make sure.

 

[Toastman]

Great tips. I am prepared to doing the full 5 gal boil from the get-go. So I don't plan on adding water unless there's a need for a little top-off.

 

[brewGF]

I just brewed my first batch of GF beer, well first batch of any beer in over 15 years and used this recipe which is also sorghum syrup and cascade. http://brewingwithbriess.com/Recipes/beer/display/hoppy-to-be-gluten-free-pale-ale

The results greatly exceeded my expectations which were to brew something superior to the gf pale ale I found on the store shelves. Huge success.

I now have a version of Igliashon Jones's no no-nonsense oatmeal stout in the fermenter {fingers crossed}.