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I plugged your recipe into BeerSmith and came up with much lower numbers. Assuming 80% efficiency, your OG was only 1.051 and FG of 1.011.

The heavy duty drill I have is a variable speed, from 0-500 rpms. Since this drill is torque monster, I'm assuming the load of milling the grain won't decrease to total rpm's significantly. BTW... the highest rpm's to use with the Barley Crusher is 500.

Use a good brewing software like BeerSmith... makes your brew day much less complicated.

My experience with kits were mixed. I made some good beers and some ok beers. The kits I once purchased sat on the shelves for who knows how long. The hops and yeast were not kept refrigerated. That changed when I went away from "kits" and ordered / bought the ingredients separately. I knew...

I always crushed my grain at the LHBS, but hated waiting in line. Over time, the mill started to breakdown and the quality of the crush deteriorated. My efficency suffered greatly. I decided to purchase my own mill, a Barley Crusher, and couldn't be happier with the results. Other have...

I purchased a Barley Crusher for around $120. I'm very happy with this mill. My efficiency has increased 6-8% due to it's quality crush. Connected to a drill (500rpm's), I crush 20+ pounds in just a few minutes.

How was your crush... that could make a big difference in your efficentcy. There's nothing wrong with extract brewing, but once you make the switch to AG you'll never go back (unless time is an issue). Sounds like you did well with your first AG batch... good job!

I've only batch sparged once in 8 yrs of brewing and my efficiency suffered, so I went back to fly-sparging. My setup for fly sparging results in an efficiency in the low 80's. I've read all of the pros-cons of both fly and batch sparging. Both will work for your intended purpose. My...

95% of the beer I consume is my homebrew. I rarely buy commercial beer except for large family get togethers or when I have dinner out.

That's the identical cooler I use for my mash tun. I added the valve on the opposite side of the spigot. The only issue I have... the side wall seems a little thin. I was worried the side walls wouldn't hold up when I added the ball valve. Two years later... no problems. Holds temps with...

I keg half and bottle the other half to share with others. Depending on how long the mash is, a brew session is 5-6 hrs from start to end of clean up. Not too much longer than the 5 gallon batches I once brewed.

Usually not a day goes by without at least one beer. During the week, I like to have a beer at night after everything calms down. On the weekend, I might have 2-3 over the course of the day. At 200 calories per beer, I can't afford to drink too many. At my age, it's hard to keep the weight...

I'm a big fan of BeerSmith. The software will convert your 5 gallon recipes to 10 gallon. Great brewing software... IMO. When I incorporated a pump into my 10 gallon system, I knocked off quite a bit of time from the brew day, particularly cooling. When I recirculate during the chilling...

Cheers from Guilford, Indiana... a small rural town about 30 miles West of Cincinnati, Ohio. I've been a homebrewer for over 7 years.

Your mash would have been extremely thick if you didn't compensate for the extra grain. Just the mash volume alone should have raised questions.

I split my 10 gallon batches in two (most of the time). I like the keg for CONVENIENCE. I bottle to share with family and coworkers. If I didn't have a separate beer frige, I wouldn't have a problem bottling everything... part of the hobby.

I didn't get into homebrewing to save money on the beer I bought. In fact, I didn't drink too much commercial beer back then... well before craft beer became so popular. I started brewing for the past time. At that time, I had no idea that I would invest so much time and money into it...

I can honestly say, I really haven't tasted the "homebrew twang" that everyone associates with extract brewing. When I first started brewing, I made some very good extract recipes. I think a lot of my success had to do with the fresh LME I purchased from my LHBS. I never purchased canned or...

Time will be a premium. If you can upgrade equipment to save time during the brew day, I would opt for the equipment upgrade.

I would crush my own grain at my LHBS, but I got tired of waiting in line to use the mill. Then the mill kept breaking down or wouldn't give you a good crush. I bought a BarleyCrusher and my efficiency increased from high 70's to mid 80's. This mill provides one of the best crushes I've seen...