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Second time brewing, please help with recipe

G

guitar_stringz

Hello,

I am getting ready to brew my second beer. I found a recipe I like here:
http://www.beersmith.com/Recipes2/recipe_153.htm

I'm not quite sure what to do with the recipe though. I have read some common techniques on brewing an all grain beer but I'm not really sure how to apply it to this recipe. Based on the recipe I listed I have devised the following plan which I think needs tweaking. Looking for some help. (details welcomed)

1) Heat 1.5 gallons of water to 160 degrees F.
2) Stir in Pale Ale Malt, Flaked Barley and Black Barley to the water.
3) Let sit for 45-60 mins
4) Raise temp to 170 degrees F for 5 minutes "Mash out"
5) Remove grains from water and put in lauter tun. (I think I am going to rig up a large cooler for this, or is it better to buy one?)
6) Take a separate 3 gallons of water (pre-heated to 170F) and run through the lauter tun until I get a clear wort.
7) Place clear wort in boil pot
8) Add hops, Goldings and Gypsum boil 60 minutes
9) Add moss when 10 minutes of biul time is remaining
10) Transfer wort to wort cooler, bring down to aprox 70 degrees
11) Transfer from wort cooler to first fermenter & pitch yeast
12) after 7 days transfer to secondary fermenter
13) after another 7 days transfer to keg and add CO2

I realize my steps probably need some work. Advice is welcomed!
 
What I see right off the bat is a very low water to grain ratio, .75 will be awfully thick. Maybe you have a reason for wanting that ratio, but having said that..... the strike water temp (if you really want that .75/1 ratio) would have to be more like 177* to get 72* grain to 154*.  Otherwise use BS's strike/infusion calculator for the steps/temps/volumes that you want to use.

I also think it would be to your advantage to add water to mash out as opposed to "bringing the temp up to 170" as you state. I think you'd have some difficulty getting that thick a mash to that temp without some real hot spots. And 170 might be a tad high and likely would extract more tannins than you'd want.... 168 is ideal.
Other than that, sounds like a great beer!
 
My first advise to you would be not to brew an All Grain batch as your second brew without an experienced brewer to help you. Not to diminish your technical knowledge, but there is a big difference between reading about brewing All Grain and doing it. If there is a local Home brewing club near you, get involved with them and go to some meetings. Most of the time there is some really good beer there and there is always great people there to help.

You could however convert this to a partial mash using BeerSmith and mash the flaked barley and specialty grains (Attached at bottom for you).
When you get the grains, ask them to put it into a steeping sock for you. The Flaked Barley will need to soak (or Mashed) for 40-60 min in 155F water.

Here is a good breakdown of what to do from one of my local HB Stores. http://www.defalcos.com/firstbatchofbeer.htm

Let us know how we can help  :)

Cheers
Preston

 

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Guys, thank you for the advice, it is most welcome. I was able to get the help of another brewer who is going to be with me during this process. I am going to build a Lauter Tun this weekend and with my fingers crossed give this a go the following weekend. I'm not expecting much since this is my second time - except hopefully to learn more.

Going to review the Strike/Infusion calculator and make some adjustments.

Thanks again guys.
 
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