First Grain Brew

Hey I am wondering if any of you can help me I’m going to do my first all grain brew and don’t quite understand the on parte the recipe is as follows

Crush and steep in 1 gallon (3.8 L) 150°L (65.5°C) water for 20 minutes:

12 oz. (.34 kg) roasted barley
4 oz. (113 g) 55°L British crystal malt
4 oz. (113 g) flaked barley
3 oz. (85 g) acid malt (optional: will give that slightly sour Guinness taste)

Strain the grain water into your brew pot. Sparge the grains with ½ gallon (1.9 L) water at 150°F (65.5°C). Add water to the brew pot for 1.5 gallons (5.7 L) total volume. Bring the water to a boil, remove the pot from the stove, and add:

4 lb. (1.8 kg) Mountmellick light malt syrup
1.75 lb. (.8 kg) M&F light DME
1 oz. (28 g) Target @ 8.5% AA (8.5 HBU) (bittering hop)
½ oz. (14 g) East Kent Goldings @ 5% AA (2.5 HBU)
(bittering hop)

Add water until total volume in the brew pot is 2.5 gallons (9 L). Boil for 45 minutes then add:

1 tsp. (5 ml) Irish moss

Boil for 15 minutes, remove pot from the stove, and cool for 15 minutes. Strain the cooled wort into the primary fermenter and add cold water to obtain 5 gallons (18.9 L). When the wort temperature is under 80°F (26.6°C), pitch your yeast.

1st choice: Wyeast's 1084 Irish ale yeast
(Ferment at 68-72°F [20-22°C])
2nd choice: Wyeast's 1098 British ale yeast
(Ferment at 68-72°F [20-22°C])

Ferment in the primary fermenter 4-5 days or until fermentation slows, then siphon into the secondary fermenter. Bottle when fermentation is complete with:

1¼ cup (300 ml) M&F light DME

The part I don’t understand is the part in red I strain the water and the again sparge the grain why and what do I do with that water? Please Help

Usually, the way you sparge a small amount of grain such as that is by placing the already steeped grains into a colander or strainer inside of a pot, then gently pouring the 1/2 gallon of 150 degree water over top of it. Then you pour the water you collected in the pot into your larger brew pot.

The video posted by Halfbrew70 demonstrates the sparge technique well, but he's obviously doing an all grain BIAB method.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/video-stovetop-biab-2-1-2-gal-all-grain-355623/ The part you want to copy is between 32sec - 42sec in the video.

But, I don't know if I'd sparge with 150 degree water. I might suggest something higher like 165-170. Also, in my opinion, this is a very complicated recipe, but hey I'm no pro myself.

*edit* I'd leave the beer in the primary for longer than 4-5 days. I'd say at least a week. There is no reason to rush it.

*edit* Also, I see that you think this is an "all grain" recipe. I don't know if its just a typo, but this is more along the lines of a Partial Recipe. The reason being is that you are still using malt extracts for the majority of your fermentables; and by steeping the grains, you aren't getting an enzyme conversion like you would for an all-grain "mash".
Not that partial recipes are worse or anything, you're still making beer. Just for information. Enjoy the brewing!

Hey jwalk44 thanx for the help yes i figured out it was a partial recipe was a typo have any great recipes for starter brewers

Well, that depends on the beer you want to make. If you've already bought the ingredients above, proceed. I'm guessing the recipe is for a stout or porter, because of the desirable "sour guiness taste" and the "roasted and flaked barley", also "Wyeast's 1084 Irish ale yeast" is pretty popular in stouts.

I guess the recipe that you posted isn't that complicated, just not well laid out. I was confused by all the "Bring to a boil", "remove pot from stove", "Bring to a boil", "remove pot from stove", its quite inefficient. Usually, here on these forums we assume the beer will be going through a one time, 60 minute boil. Thus, the typical recipe will look like this: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f68/imperial-bastard-stout-126650/ This recipe is for an imperial stout.

Recipe Type: Extract
Yeast: White Labs Irish Ale
Yeast Starter: none
Additional Yeast or Yeast Starter: none
Batch Size (Gallons): 5
Original Gravity: 1.099
Final Gravity: 1.028
IBU: 25
Boiling Time (Minutes): 60
Color: 42 SRM
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 8-10 days at 65-70
Additional Fermentation: bottle condition for 10-14 days
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 5-7 at same
Tasting Notes: Great Tasting Beer. The brown sugar helps to bring out the chocolate tones.

6.6lbs dark syrup malt
3lbs dark DME
1/4lb black patent
1/2lb crystal
1/4lb chocolate malt
1/2lb roasted barley
1lb Dark Brown Sugar
1oz Challenger hops (60min boil) <- these times are your hopping schedule. Always start the 60 minutes once the boil as been achieved, then start to add hops.
1oz Cascade hops (30min boil)
1oz Cascade hops (15min boil)
1/4tsp Irish moss
Irish ale yeast (White Labs) or equivalent

Bring 1.5-2gal water to 150ºF, steep grains (in grain bag) for 30min.
Remove grains [Here is where your recipe wants to sparge, do so then add the water to the pot and proceed to] bring water to boil.
Dissolve all malt extract and brown sugar, and return water to rolling boil.
Add hops according to schedule above for total 60min boil time.
Add Irish moss at final 15min.
Pour into fermenter with 3gal cold water (top off to 5gal if necessary) and pitch yeast at approx. 80ºF.

Ferment 8-10 days in primary, then rack and ferment 5-7 days in secondary.
Prime with 3/4 cup priming sugar and bottle.
Age 3-4 weeks in bottles.


Great beer with a kick. It is damn near 10%ABV