Okay so my next dumb question is:
What's the pros/cons of a full boil over a partial boil? I've only done one extract boil and it was a partial (which assume means not boiling the full 5 gal).
I figured I could still do a partial boil outside as well, is that not the case?
Full boils have a lot of pros/cons, below are a couple
Pros:
less darkening of the wort
use less hops due to the gravity of the wort not being as concentrated
easy to do indoors
Cons:
longer heating time
longer chilling time
need of larger equipment
Wanted to give everyone an update. I bottled my first batch and everything went fairly smooth except I dropped and shattered my hydrometer! Hopefully I was able to rack to the bottling bucket and into the bottles with minimal oxygen as there was some bubbling in the transfer, due to air pockets in the hose.
It made pretty much exactly 2 cases(48 bottles). I bottled one extra by tilting the bottling bucket, but I wanted to experience one that may have more trub than the others. This way I know what to look for. Hopefully it'll be ready for our Labor Day party, although that might be a little sooner than id like for bottle conditioning.
I think everyone has broken at least one hydrometer in their day. invest in a refractometer, less chance of breaking. Also if you can get the bottles somewhere dark and 70-75 degrees F they will carbonate faster than if stored in the 60's