Now that I have all the frames drawn I don’t actively manage the brood area/space for spring/autumn. In spring they have eaten through space for the queen to lay out to 16-20 frames. My first flows they thenfill the flow frames and backfill te end frames with nectar honey. On good years I’ll get a harvest or two. I then have a dearth from early December to late Jan and that creates more space for the queen to lay. If the Marri is a good flow they’ll then fill anything that is free and I harvest. At pack down I leave the normal frames as they are. I might move all the capped honey to the opposite end. I harvest the flow frames and leave them in the hive to capture any follow on flow or winter sources. It works for me in my climate and flows.
It sounds like depending on season you may need to manage brood nest size to get honey in the flow frames. On my no flow frame LL I put a fixed QE so I have 14 brood frames and the rest honey. It seems to be the sweet spot for production and reduced swarm management. I’ve now got a LL with medium frames (2/3 deep) and am enjoying getting to know how to manage that.
For your first Autumn I’d approach like you do normally. I think your climate is cooler than my mild Mediterranean one.
Weight post inspections I don’t see a reduction in weight. Some times, depending on what manipulation I do I can see a reduction in foraging activity reflected in the weights.
I hope I’ve answered your questions, I feel I’ve rambled a little.