Brewing for the first time later today, few questions

[BGates14]

Hey guys I've been a member here for awhile but never really posted to my knowledge. This is beccause I'm starting to brew finally today! I've been wanting to brew for a long time now, I finally turn 21 in about a month or so and convinced my parents to allow me to brew since it will age til then (and wouldn't it make a nice first sip of alcohol )

Anyway, me and my buddy split gear and then baught all the rest of the stuff we needed. I just have to set up our mash tun cooler and we will be all set for all grain!

Today, however, we are starting with extract. Now I got a 10 gallon pot because I knew I'd want to be moving on fast, my biggest question today is I'm reading through the instructions and there are tips on the side. It says to only steep with 2.5 gallons because it will lower the IBU's of the beer. It says then to add the rest of the water at the end. Now I know nothing is wrong with adding water to the end, but I'd like to if possible brew the entire 5 gallons since I have the means (and why not?). I guess this is where all-grain brewers would sparge in their water to make a full volume batch in their brew pot? Could I essentially "sparge" in 2.5 more gallons to bring the volume up to 5 after the steep? Or would this also effect the beer?

Thanks for any responses and help, sorry if this has been asked before I don't have access to my computer so I can't be at my full lurking potential! Oh and I'm brewing an English Brown Ale as an easy start! Hope everything turns out well!

 

[chaydaw]

You shouldn't have said you were underage.

 

[PIGMAN]

You shouldn't have said you were underage.

+1. I think mod will cut you off until your birthday.

 

[BGates14]

I was under the impression it was 18 to join, guess not. Understandable but oh well, huge dampener on my day.

 

[PIGMAN]

I was under the impression it was 18 to join, guess not. Understandable but oh well, huge dampener on my day.

Come back in a month.

 

[onipar]

If you increase the boil volume, you will decrease the boil gravity, thereby increasing your hop utilization. In other words, your recipe probably calculated for the higher gravity by adding more hops. If you use the same amount of hops with lower gravity, you'll get more bitters.

You can use an IBU calculator to figure out how much hops to use to get the same IBU's that the recipe expects. http://www.brewersfriend.com/ibu-calculator/

 

[Pappers_]

Happy Birthday and I'm sure you'll be welcomed back afterwards.

To answer your question - it is better to do the full 5 gallon boil for an extract batch than a partial boil and then top off with water.