Recipe advice...

Now planning my 2nd AG brew, and I want to make a dry stout. I'm not looking to make anything particularly "big"... something in the range of 1.038 to 1.042.

Here's my current plan:

5 gallons

5.5 lbs Maris Otter pale malt
1.5 lbs Flaked barley
1 lb Roasted malt

single infusion mash, 152F, 60 minutes, no mash out, 3 gallons mash water
batch sparge with 2x 2.5 gallons water at 180F

30 minute pre-boil

1.5 oz Goldings (alpha ~5), 60 minutes
.5 oz Goldings, 20 minutes

Whirlfloc 15 minutes

The grain ratio I figure to be about 70:20:10, and the bittering hops should give (per Charlie Papazian's formula and tables) BU of about 40, which from what I can tell should be about right for an OG target of 1.040 for a dry stout.

Any comments/suggestions on the above would be very much appreciated.

Looks like your recipe is good, you'll probably get what you want our of it. The only thing I would change is your sparge water temp. Bring it down to about 170, that way you don't extract too many tannins from your mash, they'll give you some unwanted flavors.

The site listed below has a free recipe calculator that you may find useful.
The Beer Recipator - Home

Hope this helps.

Thanks! Much appreciated.

Looks absolutely great for a session strength Dry Stout. I've got one that I regularly brew that is a bit higher gravity but has a similar grain bill -- 8 lb MO, 2 lb flaked barley, and 1 lb roasted barley. It always comes out great -- very close to Guinness by my tastes.

Enjoy!

ottobrew said:

The only thing I would change is your sparge water temp. Bring it down to about 170, that way you don't extract too many tannins from your mash, they'll give you some unwanted flavors.

Click to expand...

I would do 180-185 as you planned, as do most people around here that batch sparge. You won't get any tannin issues and it helps your efficiency.

Kilgore_Trout said:

I would do 180-185 as you planned, as do most people around here that batch sparge. You won't get any tannin issues and it helps your efficiency.

Click to expand...

I agree, The lower my Sparge temp....The Lower my Efficiency.

Kilgore_Trout said:

I would do 180-185 as you planned, as do most people around here that batch sparge. You won't get any tannin issues and it helps your efficiency.

Click to expand...

+2... I sparge 2x at 185 degrees and have had good results.

Kilgore_Trout said:

I would do 180-185 as you planned, as do most people around here that batch sparge. You won't get any tannin issues and it helps your efficiency.

Click to expand...

+3 2x @ 185 works. It really improved my efficiency.

Thanks for all the responses. Just to be clear: is the 185F temperature the temperature of the added sparge water, or the target temperature after it hits the mash tun?

185 F is the temperature of the added sparge water. Definitely not the target temp.

See Bobby_M's NMODBS for the reasoning. I believe he has a link in his sig.

Just realized you had no mash out, sorry for the bum scoop.

Thanks for the reccomendations. I think I'm good to go now...