First A.G. recipe attempt looking for input

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Zero

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Ok so I'm jumping into the all-grain world for the first time. I'm looking for some help on a couple points. I would like to learn how to answer these questions for myself, so if you can point me in the direction to how you arrive at the answers, that would be great so I don't have to keep bugging you guys :drunk:

I'm going to try a Bell's Amber clone recipe found in this thread:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/looking-make-bells-amber-clone-anyone-have-ag-recipe-130473/

Here's the relevant points:

Batch Size (Gal): 5.00 Wort Size (Gal): 5.00
Total Grain (Lbs): 11.00
Anticipated OG: 1.056 Plato: 13.84
Anticipated SRM: 12.9
Anticipated IBU: 29.3
Brewhouse Efficiency: 72 %
Wort Boil Time: 60 Minutes

So if I read correctly, I need about 3.5 gallons of water for mash, and about 5.5 gallons for sparging, right? How do I determine what temperature to bring the water to for mash and for sparge?

Mash at for 60 min @ 153° I'm using a converted cooler for this step. I assume the temperature discussed above will result in hitting the desired mash temp. For contingencies, if I see I have missed the temperature, I supposed it's easy enough to add cold/hot water as needed to hit the correct temp. As this would thin the mash, I assume I would have to add to the boil time to get the correct wort volume, or do I just reduce the sparge water accordingly?

0.50 oz. Cascade Pellet 7.50 17.9 60 min.
0.50 oz. Fuggle Pellet 4.75 11.3 60 min.
0.50 oz. Cascade Pellet 7.50 0.0 0 min.
0.50 oz. Fuggle Pellet 4.75 0.0 0 min.

From this it looks like the first hop addition is at the beginning of the boil. What I don't get is the addition for "0" minutes. Are these added to the primary for the duration of fermentation?

White Labs WLP001 California Ale
This looks to be a liquid yeast, which I have no experience with (yet). I'm considering a Wyeast 1272 because I like what I read about the flavor results from fermenting at the cooler end of the range. Will that substitute work?
 
So if I read correctly, I need about 3.5 gallons of water for mash, and about 5.5 gallons for sparging, right? How do I determine what temperature to bring the water to for mash and for sparge?
You are correct but your sparge volume will be dictated largely by your boil off rate. I typically boil off 1.5 gallons per hour, so I shoot for a pre-boil volume of 7 gallons to have 5.5 gallons going into the fermenter for about 5 gallons of finished product. You can usually count on .5 gallons of trub.
So just subtract your first runnings volume from your intended pre-boil volume and you'll get your sparge volume.

Strike temp depends on your equipment, ie your MLT, and the temp transference when you mash in. I typically lose about 12 degrees at mash in. So to hit 153* I would heat strike water to about 167, preheat the tun for a few minutes or until it gets down to 165 and mash in.

Sparge water should be hot enough to stop enzymatic activity. I usually sparge at around 178. Does the trick for me.

Mash at for 60 min @ 153° I'm using a converted cooler for this step. I assume the temperature discussed above will result in hitting the desired mash temp. For contingencies, if I see I have missed the temperature, I supposed it's easy enough to add cold/hot water as needed to hit the correct temp. As this would thin the mash, I assume I would have to add to the boil time to get the correct wort volume, or do I just reduce the sparge water accordingly?
Good idea to have hot/cold water on hand for your first few tries. And you can adjust sparge volume. Works for me.

0.50 oz. Cascade Pellet 7.50 17.9 60 min.
0.50 oz. Fuggle Pellet 4.75 11.3 60 min.
0.50 oz. Cascade Pellet 7.50 0.0 0 min.
0.50 oz. Fuggle Pellet 4.75 0.0 0 min.

From this it looks like the first hop addition is at the beginning of the boil. What I don't get is the addition for "0" minutes. Are these added to the primary for the duration of fermentation?
0 minute addition is at flameout, as in turn off the flame and add the hops, or add the hops and turn off the flame.

White Labs WLP001 California Ale
This looks to be a liquid yeast, which I have no experience with (yet). I'm considering a Wyeast 1272 because I like what I read about the flavor results from fermenting at the cooler end of the range. Will that substitute work?
It will work fine, if that's what you want. It's not too much of a deviation from 001.
 
So if I read correctly, I need about 3.5 gallons of water for mash, and about 5.5 gallons for sparging, right? How do I determine what temperature to bring the water to for mash and for sparge?

Google "strike water calculator." There are lots of them around; they'll have you input the mash thickness and grain temp and tell you what temp the strike water should be. A good idea is to heat up your water ~10 degrees above your strike temp, pour it into the cooler, let it sit for 15 min or so so that the cooler absorbs all the heat it's going to, then open and stir until you hit your strike temp. Add grain, stir really well until you hit your mash temp.


White Labs WLP001 California Ale
This looks to be a liquid yeast, which I have no experience with (yet). I'm considering a Wyeast 1272 because I like what I read about the flavor results from fermenting at the cooler end of the range. Will that substitute work?

WLP001 is the same strain as Safeale 05 (the dry yeast). I'd personally go with the dry for your first AG - there's enough other stuff to worry about!

Good luck!
 
For sparge water temp, you said you "shoot for around 178º." Is that the rest temp, or the water temp before you add it to the MLT?

For a single infusion/batch sparge, once the sparge water is added, do you give it a stir, vorlauf, and drain away, or should it sit a few minutes?
 
For a single infusion/batch sparge, once the sparge water is added, do you give it a stir, vorlauf, and drain away, or should it sit a few minutes?

Personal preference - I've tried it both ways and it hasn't seemed to make a difference for me. Some people here have reported big increases in efficiency (5+ points) by letting it sit for 10-15 min, however.

I'd say just choose one and go for it, then do it differently the next time!
 
+ 1 on US-05 for the yeast. It is the dry version of california ale. I use it for the majority of my american style beers.

Also, this is just my opinion but, if you have 20 bucks to spend, buying BeerSmith was one of the best things I did for all grain brewing. All of the calculations you were asking about are done for you and you can create or modify recipes in a snap. It really is awesome.

Good luck brewing this beer and with your adventure in all grain. It will be a lot of fun. I never thought I would go jumping around the garage because I increased my efficiency by 5 points one day. The little things make it that much more fun.
 
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