Need advice for my first All grain batch ( belgian golden strong)

Hello all. i decided to give all grain brewing a try and decided to go with a golden strong. I went to my LHBS and went with a kit for my first foray into AG.
Recipe is as follows for 5 gallon batch:
10lbs - Castle Pilsner malt

Addition of 3lbs cane sugar

Hops: 2oz styrian goldings (60 minutes)
1 oz czech saaz (15 minutes)

Yeast is wyeast #1388

The recipe seems simple but seems like a good idea for me to keep it simple the 1st time out. The mash schedule says to mash for 90 minutes at 149 degrees and up to 170 for 10 minutes. If im reading this correctly. O.G should be 1.081. Im assuming this gravity will be this high if i add the sugar during the boil? Should i add it with the grain in the mash tun? Or at the start or end of the boil or even once its in the fermenter? Also is one package of wyeast enough for a wort of this gravity? I believe if i wait to addthe sugar the gravity would start much lower and the one package would be enough to start with. Is this correct?

Any advice with this recipe/ mash temps/ times sparge volume or anything. would greatly be appreciated. Thank you.

The estimated original gravity includes the sugar addition. It should be added with 10 minutes remaining in the boil. The mash temps and times look good!

The one pack of yeast won't be enough, check mrmalty.com for pitch rates, you'll either need to make a yeast starter or pitch multiple packs.

For sparge water calculations I use a brewing program for my phone called ibrewmaster, if you don't want to pay for brewing software you can search google for a sparge water calculator, there are many free ones online.

Take your gravity before you add the sugar. Then you can calculate how much sugar you need to add to hit your number. When I do a BGS I figure my gravity without the sugar, then calculate my hops. That way you can get your hop utilization and then you can raise the gravity with the sugar. Some people don't add the sugar until after most of the fermentation is completed. I have never done I this way but some people have good luck with it. If you make a starter with enough yeast you should have no problem reaching your FG. You will certainly need more yeast or if you are in a bind and you can't get another yeast pack you could step up your starters.

Thank you very much johnp. As far as upping my mash temp to 170 with ten minutes left how can this be achieved using a home made MLT out of a ten gallon cooler? Will i need to calculate the minimum amount of water needed and what temperature it needs to be heated to and add it to the current mash volume to make it reach 170? I am not opposed to purchasing brewing especially if it can calculate the optimum volime and temperature to solve this.

Dave37 said:

Thank you very much johnp. As far as upping my mash temp to 170 with ten minutes left how can this be achieved using a home made MLT out of a ten gallon cooler? Will i need to calculate the minimum amount of water needed and what temperature it needs to be heated to and add it to the current mash volume to make it reach 170? I am not opposed to purchasing brewing especially if it can calculate the optimum volime and temperature to solve this.

Click to expand...

some folks do heat up some mashout water and add it to the mash. i use a batch sparge method, so i dont preform a mashout rest. after the mash is done i just drain my first runnings and get it on the heat right away, which does the same thing that a mashout does - denatures the enzymes. i add the sparge water to the mash after i drain the first runnings. to get my sparge temp to equalize at 170 i usually need to have my sparge water at about 195. i then let that sit for 10-15 minutes then drain, and add to the first runnings that are coming up to boil.

Seconding johnp on skipping the mashout. I just don't see the need.

So for my second runnings with my sparge water basically it just needs to be hotter than my strike water. Would this brewing software be able to tell me the exact temp my sparge water would have to be if i take a reading of the current temp in my MLT at the time my sparge water needs to go in? Also on a different note i had a question about the recommended ph for my mash. I purchased 5.2 the ph stabilizer would you advise using that or should I use something else to get my water to go well with the BGS.

Dave37 said:

So for my second runnings with my sparge water basically it just needs to be hotter than my strike water. Would this brewing software be able to tell me the exact temp my sparge water would have to be if i take a reading of the current temp in my MLT at the time my sparge water needs to go in? Also on a different note i had a question about the recommended ph for my mash. I purchased 5.2 the ph stabilizer would you advise using that or should I use something else to get my water to go well with the BGS.

Click to expand...

the remaining grains will absorb some temp, so yes sparge water needs to be hotter, my software does not give a recommended temp for sparge water so i'm not sure if other software does or not.

i have no advice on water adjustments, i just use my tap water. i've read wildly conflicting opinions on 5.2.

One more question it applies to fermentation. I was just wondering what an average fermentation looks like for a BGS as far as storage temperature, time in the primary fermenter, and whether or not a secondary fermentation is recommended. And a recommended bottle conditioning time. Ill be using 22oz bottles.

And lastly from what ive read my FG should be somewhere in the ballpark of 1.04-1.12 is this accurate?

I guess thats more than one question thanks.

Dave37 said:

One more question it applies to fermentation. I was just wondering what an average fermentation looks like for a BGS as far as storage temperature, time in the primary fermenter, and whether or not a secondary fermentation is recommended. And a recommended bottle conditioning time. Ill be using 22oz bottles.

And lastly from what ive read my FG should be somewhere in the ballpark of 1.04-1.12 is this accurate?

I guess thats more than one question thanks.

Click to expand...

Any ideas? Planned on brewing this tomorrow.

Dave37 said:

One more question it applies to fermentation. I was just wondering what an average fermentation looks like for a BGS as far as storage temperature, time in the primary fermenter, and whether or not a secondary fermentation is recommended. And a recommended bottle conditioning time. Ill be using 22oz bottles.

And lastly from what ive read my FG should be somewhere in the ballpark of 1.04-1.12 is this accurate?

I guess thats more than one question thanks.

Click to expand...

Any help i planned on brewin this tomorrow. Thanks

Been a while since I made the jump to all grain, but I don't recall much in the way of fermentation, secondary, or packaging differences from extract. That part should go just like you're used to.