First ....attempt period. Recipe and Procedure review.

Straight to all grain, lets see how it goes.
This is all set up for a 3 gallon batch, since that is what I have the equipment for. Grain pre-crushed.

Recipe, taken pretty much from ohiobrewtus's EF Porter Clone, and reduced the sizes. Added a little OG for "whoops my efficiency sucks with braided stainless/Rubbermaid MLT" factor.

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 3.00 gal
Boil Size: 5.72 gal
Estimated OG: 1.063 SG
Estimated Color: 34.2 SRM
Estimated IBU: 38.5 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
6.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 84.51 %
0.30 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 4.23 %
0.30 lb Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 4.23 %
0.30 lb Special B Malt (180.0 SRM) Grain 4.23 %
0.20 lb Black (Patent) Malt (500.0 SRM) Grain 2.82 %
0.40 oz Centennial [10.00 %] (60 min) Hops 26.8 IBU
0.33 oz Williamette [5.50 %] (30 min) Hops 9.3 IBU
0.33 oz Williamette [5.50 %] (5 min) Hops 2.4 IBU
1 Pkgs British Ale (Wyeast Labs #1098) [Starter 1000ml]


Mash Schedule: My Mash
Total Grain Weight: 7.10 lb
----------------------------
My Mash
Step Time Name Description Step Temp
60 min mash Add 8.00 qt of water at 167.3 F 154-5.0 F
10 min Sparge Add 12.00 qt of water at 168-169

Need to change strike temp based on final readings of grain temp, but those are approximations. Just over 1 qt/lb for mash, and sparge with about 1.7qt/lb

Planning on about a gallon of grain absorption(.125qt/lb grain= ~.90) which should give me about 4 gallons for the boil. 1 hour boil should put me closer to 3, with enough left over to practice some gravity readings.

Planning on using tap water with 1/2 campden tablet to get rid of any chlorine. Decided not to mess with PH as of now, or should I?

1. Wyeast 1098 added to boiled then cooled DME and water(2oz/400ml) for 1000ml (sterile technique requried). Cover w/ foil/airlock 2-3 days at mid 60F.
2. Starsan mix in carboy, all other equip coming into contact with chilled wort with starsan in bucket.
3. Preheat MLT, take grain temp for any last minute temp calibrations
4. Water in grain in stir, check for 154 F, adjust if needed 1 hr
5. Recirculate gently until mostly clear
6. Drain off into boil kettle, keep warm.
7. Add 3 gallon sparge water at just under 170 for 5-10 minutes.
8. Recirculate, drain into boil kettle, bring to a boil.
9. Hop additions at prescribed intervals.
10. Set up my uber chiller(mud room sink with ice and water).
11. Boil over, chill, adding ice as needed.
12. Gravity reading 60F.
13. Clear out carboy, transfer, shake/roll around like a mofo. (note to self, glass dangerous)
14. Decant liquid from starter, add starter.
15. Little headroom in carboy, so 1/2in blowoff tube into h20+starsan.
16. Primary ferment, 7-10 days, OG readings same on consecutive days after day 6=done(ish?)(stolen with sterilized stainless turkey baster)
17. Sterilize 2ndary carboy, rack, airlock, 2 weeks(ish?)
18. Corn sugar for carbing, 1/2cup sugar 2cup H20, boiled, added.
19. Bottles rinsed starsan, drained in clean dishwasher.
20. Caps dipped in starsan(not O2 barrier), rack into bottles, cap.
21. Try to distract onself with some Great Lakes beer since I have no homebrew for the all important RDWHAHB step.

Primary fermenting will be done in my relatively constant 60 degree basement, figuring it to be slightly exothermic, and secondary in warmer portion of basement around 62-65 degrees.

Sorry it's so long, but I have about a week until I will attempt this. Any reviews and criticism for this newbie is greatly appreciated .

This all looks pretty good to me.....but speaking as someone who's going to AG next month, and has only participated as "assistant brewer" when my son did an AG batch a few weeks ago.
He also did a porter, and has the Rubbermaid / stainless braid MLT. However, in this case he got a surprise. Before, he was fighting to break 60% in the few batches he'd done, so he put in another pound of Maris Otter.....and ended up with 73% and a 1.070 wort. That's gonna be one big porter. What was different? Although he's never made that recipe before, after reading some stuff he went to a far thinner mash- 1.75 qt. / lb.
Me, I'm probably going to follow suit at first, but stick with kits for the first few batches otherwise.....

rico567 said:

What was different?

Click to expand...

I'd be willing to bet that he got a better crush than he has before.

Yeah, I'd say he got a better crush, or that additional water to grain ratio just allowed him to rinse a lot more of the sugars for collection?

Little question about sparging, should the water be at that little under 170 point for adding, or the combined temp should be that high?

You want the grain bed temp to be about 170. For me, that means about 190F water for sparging.

Thanks man, should get the last of my supplies tomorrow.