Pale Ale Partial Mash

Fellow Brewers - we are taking the plunge and have ordered some basic AG equipment to give it a try. We are going to try a partial mash for our first recipe to use up existing inventory and also reduce risk

Can you take a look at the recipe we put together and recommend Mash techniques and temps and durations? Here is what I was thinking mostly from reading other recipes and "The Brewmasters Bible"

5 quart water mash with Grains
120 degrees for 20 mins then 150 degrees for 45 mins.
recirculation some of the mash water to set the grain bed.
Then sparge with 5 gallons 170 degree water.
Should take about 45 mins to sparge

Question - Do I ultimately save the 5 quarts of Mashing water along with the 5 gallons or so of sparging water ?

Begin Wort boil :

Recipe


Pale Ale Partial Mash
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General
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Category: American Ale
Subcategory: American Pale Ale
Recipe Type: Partial Mash
Batch Size: 5 gal.
Volume Boiled: 6 gal.
Mash Efficiency: 72 %
Total Grain/Extract: 8.41 lbs.
Total Hops: 1.5 oz.
Calories (12 fl. oz.): 213.5

Ingredients
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4.53 lbs. American 2-row
0.51 lbs. Crystal Malt 60°L
3.36 lbs. Dry Extra Light Extract
0.5 oz. Columbus (Pellets, 15.00 %AA) boiled 60 minutes.
0.50 oz. Cascade (Pellets, 5.50 %AA) boiled 15 minutes.
0.50 oz. Goldings (Pellets, 5.00 %AA) boiled 1 minutes.
Yeast: White Labs WLP001 California Ale

Notes
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Vital Statistics
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Original Gravity: 1.054
Terminal Gravity: 1.012
Color: 9.45 SRM
Bitterness: 37.5 IBU
Alcohol (%volume): 5.4 %

i wouldn't worry about the different temps and holding it for twenty minutes at 120 then raising the temp to 150... i would advise against adding direct heat to the grains in the mash tun if you are using a big pot on a stove. i always ended up burning some grain no matter how attentive i was to stirring it.... rather if you are gonna to temp steps, have more hot water ready to add to the mash to raise temp. that bible book has a good mash schedule for increasing temp with infusions of hot water.

how i would do it...

i would take my five quarts of h20, bring it up to 170 degrees, remove it from the heat or put it in your tun, depending on your set up, then put the grain in ontop of the water, give it a whirl and put the lid on it. the grain will bring the temp down to 155 or so and you can begin conversion. it should be good to go in an hour. begin your sparge... you do not want to throw away any of the liquor you generate from the sparge. the first half gallon may be cloudy and murky, you can pour it back into the grain bed if you wish, or you can just go with it, the turbid runnoff will settle out with the hops when you cool your wort.

the partial mash will give you a feel for working with the grain and getting your sparge method down. it will add an increase in flavor and freshness that extract can't, but remember the bulk of your fermentables will come from the dried extract you are gonna boil.

i've done about 35 gallons of partial mash brewing and i really like it, now i am assembling my all grain stuff for this summer

What he said. Don't bother with the protein rest. Do a single infusion mash for your first swing at it. I don't bother to recirculate. It really wont make a significant difference in clarity in the end, and may be detrimental if you get more hot side aeration. Haze comes from lots of other factors...the cloudiness from the runnings settles right out, as t1master points out.

Basically, keep it simple...especially your first time. I never ecirculate or do a protein rest except on very unusual mashes.