Question on my first brew.

[imacoach]

I am getting ready to do my first brew this weekend, and I have a couple of questions. I want to do a full boil, but the kit i bought is for a partial boil. The reason I am wanting to do a full boil is to cut down on the darkness of the wort. The kit is an american pale ale.

The kit contains
1oz saaz bittering hop pellets alpha acid 4.4%
1/4oz saaz finishing hop pellets alpha acid 4.4%
1 can of light LME
1lb of light DME
1lb of dried rice extract.

Do I need to adjust the hop pellet amounts since I am going to do a full boil. I have read that they will be utilized better by the full boil. This is all of the information that I have in front of me at the moment. I thought about splitting up the 1oz packet of pellets and doing two additions, half for 60 min, and the other half for 30 min, then just add the last 1/4oz for the last five min. Does this sound like a good plan, or will I end up with a beer that is overly hoppy. Like I said, I am new to this and SWMBO doesn't like a hoppy beer!! I want to end up with a beer that she will like to get her off my back about spending almost $200 on a kit and ingredients. I forgot to mention, I am in the process of making an imersion wort chiller to cool after the full boil.

WOW, I rambled on a bit didn't I. Thanks ahead of time for the help. I am sure you guys and gals will have several suggestions for me.

Coach

 

[joshpooh]

I would keep everything the same and just do a full boil. It could change a little bit with the hop utilization, but not enough to make changing the recipe neccessary.

 

[RichBrewer]

First off, welcome to HBT!

Before you decide to do a full boil think about cooling that full volume of wort. If you don't have a wort chiller it could take you a long time to get it to pitching temperature. You want to get the yeast pitched as soon as possible and you may have to wait overnight for a full 5 gallons to cool. I would suggest doing a partial boil for your first brew and not worry about the beer darkening.

 

[Yooper]

In this case, I'd probably just make the recipe as written, since you're afraid of it being too hoppy. The recipe is designed for the partial boil, and the directions reflect that. It may be a tad darker than you'd like, but the flavor would be perfect. Then, experiment with future batches once you get the feel for the process.

If you absolutely can't live with it a bit darker, what I would do in this case is to do the partial boil, following the instructions, EXCEPT don't add the can of LME. You will get more hops utilization, but Saaz for bittering is very mild and that should not be a problem. Then, add the can of LME with 10-15 minutes left in the boil. (Remove it from the heat first, then add and stir and put it back on to boil). It'd be a bit hoppier than the recipe, but not overly so and adding the LME late would keep it from darkening too much.

Good luck!

 

[imacoach]

I will have an imersion chiller made by the weekend. All I have left to get is the 25' of tubing.

 

[Yooper]

One of the great things about homebrewing is you can do whatever you want! If you feel that you really want to do a full boil, go for it! I'm not sure that the LME will carmelize much less than in a smaller boil, so it still might be a bit darker than you expect. Regardless, it'll still be YOUR beer and so it'll be good.

 

[RichBrewer]

I will have an imersion chiller made by the weekend. All I have left to get is the 25' of tubing.

The full boil will be no problem then.
Enjoy!

EDIT: I agree with Yooper's recommendations of not changing the hop schedule and adding some of the extract later in the boil.