Partial Mash Virgin--Irish Red Ale--Am I doing this right?

This will be my first partial mash and I’m largely following Deathbrewer’s instructions, but I just wanted to make sure I’m doing this right. I’ve got a five gallon pot in which I can reliably boil 4 gallons, maybe a bit more. My plan was to set up a grain bag in the pot and heat up 1.5 g of water (that’s about 1.25 qt/lb of grain) to 160, dump in the grains, stir, and cover. Wrap the pot in a towel and let sit for 60 min, then set the drained bag in a colander and pour 2.5 g (that’s .5 g/lb) water heated to 170 over the bag to sparge. Then I top off the wort to reach the 4 g boil mark (I’m guessing the grains will absorb some of the water) and bring the whole thing to a boil and proceed as usual. Am I missing anything? I’d also welcome any feedback on the recipe. Thanks!

Bleeding Heart Irish Red Ale
4 lbs maris otter
8 oz crystal 60
8 oz crystal 120
2 oz roasted barley
4 lbs light dry malt extract
.75 oz goldings, east kent (60 min)
.5 oz goldings, east kent (30 min)
.25 oz fuggles (5 min)
1 pkg irish ale yeast 1084

Boil size:4 g
Batch size: 5.5 g

You have to know your target mash temperature. My guess is it will be around 150 degrees. If your grain is 66 degrees then your strike temp should be around 166 degrees. Here is a good tool to determine mash information, http://www.rackers.org/calcs.shtml.

Once you stir in your grains give it a few minutes for your temperature to settle. If it doesnt settle at 150 then heat it up or cool it down but the key to a good mash is consistant temperature for the hour. If you are mashing in a pot you will need to check your temperture regularly and add heat as neccessary to keep it at 150. Also have some cool water just in case you over heat and need to cool the mash down.

I am not sure about sparging on a boil in the bag but the idea is to get your grains up to 168 degrees and rinse the residual sugars out. If you do a great job on the mash the sparge wont be as crucial. I am sure a biag exert can direct you on how do to a good sparge. Good luck!

thanks! heating up the strike water to 168 was the key piece i was missing. brewed my batch last weekend (was within .001 of my projected OG) without a hitch!