First AG recipe

I am planning on an AG brew, I am building a mash tun today and I am thinking about ordering some graind from Austin HomerBrew.com. I am planning On this:

8.5 pounds milled Pale Ale malt
1.5 pounds milled Crystal 60L
1 ounce Cascade Pellet Hops

This is what I am thinking right now, I would like to add some finishing hops(suggestions) and is the 10 pounds of malt for a 5 gallon batch correct. I will take any suggestions, I need some help with this.

Do you have any brewing software?

If not try

www.recipator.com

A few pointers.

• If it's your first brew it is probably best to stick to a tried and tested recipe.
• Your first brew should be treated as a test run so you can take measurements and adjust volumes temperatures.
• Don't reckon on anything above 65% efficiency.

What style are you aiming for with the recipe?
My first reaction is there aren't enough hops.
You have nothing to aid head retention.
10lbs of grain for a 5 gallon batch: It's not a case of correct, it's a case of getting what you want. I'd say it is probably right for a average abv brew. Plug it into some software and see what you get, Im guessing you get around 4.5%ABV

Are you making an APA? That seems like too much crystal to me. More like .5 pound, I'd say. I'd maybe add some more malt though- either more 2 row or a couple pounds of vienna malt. (Is that what's in Edwort's recipe? That's a good one!)

As far as amount of grain, that really depends on your efficiency and the sg you're hoping to acheive. My efficiency sucks, so I use about 10 pounds of grain in my APAs and I get about 1.050-1.053 for about 70% efficiency.

When you formulate recipes, you want to have the IBUs and the OG in balance. Biermuncher has posted a chart (where in the world is it, guys? can someone find it and post it?) that helps you determine the amount of desired malt/hops ratio for a certain style of beer. Also, a software program like Beersmith will help you calculate the expected sg and the amount of strike water and sparge water to use.

Ok, that looks like an APA to me, so I'd suggest hopping like this:

1 oz cascade 60 minutes
.5 oz cascade 30 minutes
.25 cascade 15 minutes
.25 cascade 5 minutes

I'd also recommend backing off a bit on the Crystal 60L, but it all depends on what you're going for. APA is also what I thought of when I saw this, so I'd recommend either the recipe in my sig, or EdWort's PA.

I hop the hell out of mine because that's the way that I like it. You mentioned cascade in your recipe so I'm guessing that you have some on hand. Just plug in the aa value of the hops that you have and play with the quantity. Normally you want to be between 20-40 IBU for an APA (1.5 oz at 60, 1 oz at 15 and 1 oz at 5 would probably put you around 30 IBU).

+1 on reducing the crystal if you're looking for a more balanced beer. Go with 0.5-1.0 lb. I'd also throw some more cascades in at 15 and 5, something like 1/2 oz ea. That'll give some good hop flavor/aroma.