Help with All-Grain Process

I am doing my first allgrain batch this sunday, and will be making a chocolate porter with the possibility of adding in some raspberry later. I have a few questions though as this will be my first all-grain.

My Setup is as follows:
-4.5 Gallon Enamel Pot (HLT)
-48qt Colman Cooler with 6.5' Copper manifold cut every 1"
-6.5 Gallon SS Turkey Pot
-58,000BTU Turkey Fryer



My Questions:

-when draining the mash, do I let the grain run dry before sparging (Batch Sparge)? Or do I leave the water one to two inches above the bed from the drainings?

-With a porter is there enough to do a big/small beer? or should I just focus on the porter?

-Should I boil 60min or full 90? what is the advantage of each? should i iodine test?

Thanks in advance

When batch sparging one typically lets the grain bed fully drain.

Unless you are doing a BIG beer, a second runnings batch or partigyle might not work. Depends on how much grain you are mashing. I would stick to a single batch for a virgin run AG brew.

8.5 base malt
.5 pale chocolate
.5 crystal 60
.5 de-bittered black


looks like 9lbs total so its probably not worth the small beer huh?

My Questions:

-when draining the mash, do I let the grain run dry before sparging (Batch Sparge)? Or do I leave the water one to two inches above the bed from the drainings?

Yes, drain off completely before sparging. Add sparge water (all if your are just doing 1 sparge or half if you are doing two - your personal preference). Stir WELL for a few minutes. Run off (repeat again if you decided to "double batch sparge" lol).

-With a porter is there enough to do a big/small beer? or should I just focus on the porter?

Not sure what you mean here? If you are talking about making two separate batches (partigyle style) then it would depend on the grain bill. However, i would just focus on making the porter (1 beer) rather than trying to get two different beers out of your grain bill.

-Should I boil 60min or full 90? what is the advantage of each?

60 minutes should be good. 90 will provide a little more carmelization and darken the color a bit. (Side note -If you are using pilsen malt 90 is recommonded to drive off DMS). If it were me I would just do 60 minute boil for a porter.

should i iodine test?

Sure, if you have iodine or testing strips. Never hurt anything lol.

If not no big deal, Mash for 60 minutes. If your temp was a little low, give it an extra 15 minutes.