Extract Question

Yes, a full volume boil is preferable to a partial volume boil. For a 5 gallon batch, the total water you'll need will depend on...

- The amount of extract you're using. It dissolves, but does add volume.
- Your Boil Off rate. You can test this with water and a short boil, then extrapolate. Or you can start with something like an estimate of 1 gallon per hour, and dial it in from there.
- The amount and type (pellet or leaf) of hops. They will absorb some of the wort.

You mention having a 10 gallon kettle, which is great. But you'll also need to have a heat source capable of boiling the full volume. If you're planning to do this on a stovetop, you might want to do a test with an equivalent amount of only water to see.

 

Do you have the means to cool down to pitching temperature (e.g., 68 degrees F) 5+ gallons of boiling hot wort?

Cheers!

 

You will also need to have a means of cooling your wort to a pitching temperature. The kit instructions "add 2.5 gals cold water" to the fermenter are to cool the wort in addition to giving you the total volume, By doing a full-boil, you will need to cool the wort before putting it into the fermenter.

 

As mentioned a full-volume boil is preferable. If for some reason you decide on a partial-volume boil as suggested by the kit instructions, boil the top-off water and let it cool. Boiling will kill undesirable bugs that might be in your source water; more important if using well water, less important if using unopened containers of distilled water (recommended).

Good on you to ask questions.....kit instructions are often confusing to a new brewer and/or lacking, sometimes just plain ol' lame.

 

Here's what I'd recommend...

Assuming Dry Malt Extract:
4.61 gallons + 0.06 gallons hop absorption + 1 gallon boil off = 5.67 gallons

Assuming Liquid Malt Extract:
4.49 gallons + 0.06 gallons hop absorption + 1 gallon boil off = 5.55 gallons

Replace the boil off amount with your own measured amount if you test it.

 

With chilling in mind…..
You could start a (nearly) full volume boil with about 5 gallons including the extract. Have two gallons of other water on hand that’s been chilled in the fridge.
Do the ice bath thing until the cooling slows significantly. The temp will drop relatively quickly to <100°F, it’s the last 10° - 20° that seem to take forever. Top up with chilled water to your fermenting volume.
That’s worked for me, but it’s not the only improvisational method.

 

Just be cognizant that if you choose to conduct cooling via an "ice bath" you will need a lot of water/ice volume to bring 5+ gallons of boiling hot wort down to pitching temperature. It most certainly can be done but you must 'go big' here wrt ice/water.

And unless you have an infrared thermometer remember to sanitize your thermometer prior to inserting it into the cooled wort to measure that you have reached pitching temperature.

Cheers!

 

It was mentioned above that instructions that come with kits are frequently lacking details, so here's a pro tip for you.

You have a powerful burner that you're going to be using, and extract is prone to settling to the bottom of the pot and getting scorched (especially liquid extract), so when your recipe tells you to add the extract, cut the heat and leave it off until you get the extract well mixed into the water. Then restart the burner.

Also, if the color of your beer is important to you (if you're brewing a light-colored beer) it's okay to add just 25% (or so) of it to the wort at the beginning and the rest of it with 10-15 minutes left in the boil. This will also help avoid scorching (darkening) the beer since the sugar isn't exposed to the hot metal of the bottom of your pot for the full length of whatever boiling time the recipe calls for.

and with that powerful burner, adjust your heat level just to the point of keeping a rolling boil. You don't have to boil it to a crisp. (You'll also avoid having to scrape carbonized sugar from the inside bottom of your pot when cleaning up.)

 

Here's some standard guidance for first timers, and anybody else for that matter. It's helped tens of people.

To answer the original question, yeah it's usually better to do a full volume boil then to concentrate and add more water at the end, for a lot of reasons that I'm sure others will describe. Cheers, enjoy, welcome to the hobby!

 

And with a ice bath cooling method, gently stir the wort while your cooling. It will cool more rapidly which is what most want.

 

Ready . . . FIRE . . . Aim: This is how many new brewers approach their first batch . . . they usually post their questions here somewhere in the middle of the process, when most errors are irreversible. So big Kudos to you for asking first.

In addition to the good advice listed above, spend some time and read this link:
http://howtobrew.com/book/section-1
Considerable detail is offered here on all the subjects you question.

What style are you brewing and what yeast is in the kit? Good luck and post your results when your brew is completed . . . really . . . so few do that.

Is that a two-cycle motorbike?

 

A word about kits: Few brewers ever buy a second kit. If it just doesn't work out they drop the hobby. If lucky and a good beer results, then the brewer usually has the enthusiasm to step up to fresh ingredients. So suppliers have little motive to give you top ingredients, hence the Muntons.

I'm not saying Muntons is bad (although I would never say it's good), it probably will make beer . . . but it's rarely anyone's first choice. Worse, you don't know it's age or storage conditions. Typically dry yeast is good for 2 years from date of mfg if kept refrigerated. You don't know age or storage temp, plus this is probably a 6 gram packet . . . this is walking in a minefield. To eliminate a possible disaster, get a packet of Safale US-05. This is Sierra Nevada's generic dry yeast strain, it's easy to work with and gives better than average results, cost will be 4 - 5 bucks for 11g and everyone carries it.

LTR - RTL

 

Also, I agree.

 

Only other thing to offer is hopping. If you go full boil and the recipe intended top up water, you might end up with something more bitter than the intended beer from the kit. Not saying that this is a bad thing. But, Generally you can change when they’re added, hit the same IBU and pull out some hop flavor in the process.

What type (name) of hops and when does the recipe have you adding them?

You can also change when you add the extracts to change the effect as mentioned above.

And welcome to the hobby!

 

With this one, you're safe to use it at 60 minutes whether you go full boil or not. So I probably would recommend not getting too far removed from the instructions. You learn a lot as you progress in the hobby, the trick is not to throw to many variables at once. The first batch should be pretty tame as far as things you change.

Not sure when you're planning to brew this or if you already have. If you haven't: I'd say if you go full boil, add all of the extract at the beginning and hop per the recipe. If you go partial boil split the extract and add about 1/2 of it at the end with 10-15 minutes to go, while also keeping the same hopping schedule.

Don't add the hops right as the boil starts - get through any hot break, then add the hops and start your timer. Or just plan a 75 minute boil from the start. Usually extracts break pretty quick, so I'll leave this up to brewers choice.