Advice on my first brewday: British Pale Ale

[Mattress]

So either this week or the first of next week I will be getting together with a couple of friends and combining our equipment to have enough to brew a batch. One of my friends has brewed several times, however for me and the other this will be our first. We ordered an ingredient kit from the Home Brewery here in MO. It is the British Pale Ale kit:

http://www.homebrewery.com/images/British-Ale.jpg

I thought that I might bring it to the forums and see if anyone had ever used this kit, or by looking at it could tell me if I might change anything to make it any better. I plan to take notes on the whole session and may post it here too. One thing I did want to ask though before we start. My friend who has been brewing said we might want to do a partial boil of 3 gallons and then bring the volume up to 5 with cold water to cool it faster. My contribution is my 7.5 gallon turkey fryer, which should be plenty to do a full boil. Would there be much advantage to convince him we need a full boil?

Well, any advice or additions/tips on the recipe kit or for a first time brewer would be greatly appreciated.

[Dirk McLargeHuge]

So either this week or the first of next week I will be getting together with a couple of friends and combining our equipment to have enough to brew a batch. One of my friends has brewed several times, however for me and the other this will be our first. We ordered an ingredient kit from the Home Brewery here in MO. It is the British Pale Ale kit:

http://www.homebrewery.com/images/British-Ale.jpg

I thought that I might bring it to the forums and see if anyone had ever used this kit, or by looking at it could tell me if I might change anything to make it any better. I plan to take notes on the whole session and may post it here too. One thing I did want to ask though before we start. My friend who has been brewing said we might want to do a partial boil of 3 gallons and then bring the volume up to 5 with cold water to cool it faster. My contribution is my 7.5 gallon turkey fryer, which should be plenty to do a full boil. Would there be much advantage to convince him we need a full boil?

Well, any advice or additions/tips on the recipe kit or for a first time brewer would be greatly appreciated.

I wouldn't advise anyone to add anything to a kit for their first batch. It's hard enough trying to figure out what the instructions are telling you to do.

Just have fun and try to understand what you are doing in each step of the process. Once you have that part down, you can figure out what to add on your own.

[BigNastyBrew]

If you have the means for a full boil, then do it.

Other than that, sanitize like hell!

Happy brewing!

[BDawg]

+1 to what both Dirk and BigNasty said.

The kit looks like it is a very good one.

My only addition is if you decide to do the partial boil, add the extract late, and use pre-boiled/pre-cooled water to top up to your 5 gallon target.
Google "extract late brew" especially looking for articles on the BYO mag site. Chris Colby wrote some good articles on that.

HTH-

[Pseudolus.]

IF you have a way of cooling the wort down reasonably quickly (e.g. immersion cooler) I'd say go with doing the full boil. If not, you may be better off doing the partial boil.

[Mylo]

Well, any advice or additions/tips on the recipe kit or for a first time brewer would be greatly appreciated.

Step One: Remove pants.
Step Two: Grab a beer.
Step Three: Brew beer.
Step Four: Repeat step two, as necessary.


Mylo

[Brew4U]

You can always do a 4 gallon boil and add 8 lbs of Ice to bring it up to 5 gallons. You still need to set the pot in a sink full of ice and water. Cover with a sanitized lid because its still going to take 30 min or more to get the wort under 80 degrees. DO NOT ADD YOUR YEAST EARLY. Have a thermometer and make sure you are below 80. I prefer 70. Don't rush it. Be patient. Come here when in doubt.

[Mattress]

Thanks for all the help guys. Hopefully we will be brewing before the end of the week. Our experienced one of the group says he usually puts it in the carboy for 2 weeks then bottles. Plus I dont think any of us have a hydrometer yet. And as for sanitation I'm slightly OCD anyway so hopefully that will be an advantage. Ill take notes on it and Ill try to post and then see how it turns out.

Step One: Remove pants.
Step Two: Grab a beer.
Step Three: Brew beer.
Step Four: Repeat step two, as necessary.


Mylo

Already covered, we have a growler of oatmeal stout and some Schlafly Dry hopped APA, plus I never wear pants.

Thanks again guys.