starting all grain

Ei fellow brewers.

So me and a couple of friends are starting to brew all grain. We're getting our gear together and go to the big boys leagues. Right now we have a couple of 5 gallon fermenter and 10 gallon kettle. I would like some advise. On what would be recommended for us to start beer wise. Ale IPA red PA lager. ..

All help is welcome. 
Great beer great friends
cheers

  congrats on your move to all grain. as for your first batch imo you should brew a simple ale, depending on what you all like to drink. I would not do a lager because it takes to long to drink the final product, and when starting out with a new system there are plenty of things that may go wrong, IE stuck sprag, low or high mash temps, poor conversion in the mash.
  expense is also a concern, you can brew an ale that tastes good for less money then what some other styles may cost.
don't be scared of all grain its not that hard, you just have to get though that first batch and learn a few new techniques 

portbrewer
One of the differences in AG versus extract kits is you are now responsible for the dilution rate.  Kits are easy:  put entire kit in XX amount of water, boil one hour. 

With AG, you're now creating the kit (i.e., the malt sugars), and you are determining the amount of water needed to make the beer you wanted.  So I usually recommend sticking with a fixed volume to collect (maybe 6.5 gallons?), with a gallon to boil off, and a half-gallon to lose or leave behind.  If you collect too little sugar in that fixed amount of water, say pre-boil of 1.035, then you could add DME to get the beer you wanted.  Conversely, many new AG brewers collect until the MLT runs dry, and they have 8 gallons of over-diluted wort to boil down for 2-3 hours.  It's easier to add DME than to remove water.

As you learn your system and processes, efficiency will improve and you'll learn to hit targets, and starting out it's helpful to eliminate at least one variable.

Portbrewer
Great news to hear of another convert to all-grain.  Back in the 70s and 80s I only had time for extract brews, which though enjoyable and (above all else) cheaper than commercial beers, never seemed to be really great.  On retirement, time was no longer an issue and I now on brew all-grain.  The difference in fullness of flavour, mouth-feel etc is enormous and makes the extra effort on brew-day well worthwhile.  Go for it.

I agree with All-Grain, start with a simple recipe and build up as you and your friends gain in confidence.

Merry Miller

Make a beer you like to drink.  Keep in mind a new process means an increased likelihood of not making your greatest beer yet.  I suggest something can can cover some off flavors or mask some balance issues.  IPA or hoppy pale ale, Brown Ales or Stouts. 

I would easy into the lagers as they tend to be more finicky and are better saved until you know your new system and have a good process down. 

Cheers!
Joe

I agree...make a forgiving style to learn the quirks of your unique gear and brew practices...welcome to the club

I'm gonna make this easy for you. I went all grain not long after I started brewing in 1991. I think it was 94' when I bought my system. I started making 15-17 gallon batches at that same time. It was a big step all at once but, I learned early on that I was doing nothing more than putting grain in the water instead of extract. The result is wort (just like before). The only other thing that was different was the mash temp. Just go with 150 F (give or take 5 degrees) on everything till you know what you are doing. You will also need to sparge. That amounts to nothing more than rinsing all the left behind goodies out of the grain. There are a million ways to do all of this and I have found that the end result is wort. Still not a big deal. Learn your equipment and refine the procedure. You will be fine.

Oh! I almost forgot! What kind of beer should you brew? I would say make a stout. Off flavors would be harder to detect in a stout. Plus it is a very basic ale. Don't over think this. You obviously have Beer Smith (which was not available back when I started). Use it. I went a couple of years before Pro Mash came out and I found that software was the key to good beer. Balance is important but, hard to get balance without software or an engineering degree.