Extract w/ Mini Mash Recipe Feedback

Hello,
I'm fairly new to brewing. So far I've only brewed a double chocolate stout and a ginger spiced ipa - both of which were extract and steeping specialty grains. This time I thought i'd venture out a bit more and try out a mini mash. I've put together this recipe that started out as a saison and became more of a belgian specialty ale as I went along and I'd like to get feedback on this before I go ahead and try brewing it (I've been on hiatus since I moved to NY about half a year ago, but work has finally cooled off a bit)

Below is my recipe:
4lbs Briess Golden Light Liquid Extract
2.5 lbs Briess Pilsner malt
1.5lb Weyermann Vienna
1 lb Clear candi sugar
0.5 lb belgian aromatic

0.5oz pacific jade @65min
0.2oz galena @ 45min
0.2 oz ahtanum @ 5 min

yeast: WLP568

I was planning on making my own candi sugar syrup and adding it into the primary and mini-mashing the pilsner malt and weyermann vienna and belgian aromatic

I've got a fairly small kitchen so instead of my huge brew pot I invested in a small 8qt pot and was planning on making only about 1.5gal of wort and making up the rest with cold water (also an easy way to get the wort cooled down quickly without having to worry about a chiller - my friend suggested this but i was a bit skeptical, what's your suggestion?)

anyway - based on brewmasterswarehouse brew builder i get an IBU of 26.8, SRM of 5.50 and ABV of 5.50 (have you used this tool and found it reliable?)

Personally I love a hoppy beer, it cant be too bitter, but at my friends' request I was trying to go less bitter. I also was leaning towards a bit darker color, not pale yellow but more of a rich golden-orange

Anyway, I would love to get your feedback on this recipe - anything you see thats completely wrong or suggestions to make it better would be great


thanks!

Welcome to the forum, Mushi. I don't see anything wrong here - it looks like it will make a nice beer!

You'll need to think about how your mash, if you haven't done so. Maybe shoot for 152 degrees, then rinse the grains afterwards with 170 degree water.

As someone who lived in the city with a small kitchen for many years, I hear you about the kitchen space. But a 1.5 gallon boil is going really small, I think. You are going to get a lot of carmelization of your wort, I think. Maybe only use your mashed wort for the boil and then add the extract at the very end (search for 'late extract addition' here and you'll find lots of info).

Sounds like an interesting beer - let us know how it turns out!

Thanks for the feedback!

So, I actually have another pot that is about the same size. Could I boil 1-1.5 gallons in separately from the mashed wort and pour the bulk of my extract in there and leave it there for about 10 minutes and pour a little bit of the extract into the main brew kettle in order to help with extraction of the alpha acids and then just combine the two pots and top off?

Is there some reason that would not work or is not recommended? And if I did do that, what proportions would be best?

Thanks!