IPA first time partial mash. How does this look??

So I've only done extract brews so far, and I wanted to add a little more challenge to the brew day. How does this look? Could I add more grain and reduce extract? I'm going to be following DeathBrewer's technique.

Recipe Type: Partial Mash
Yeast: Wyeast Labs 1056 American Ale
Yeast Starter: n
Batch Size (Gallons): 5
Original Gravity: 1.071
Final Gravity: 1.018
IBU: 63
Boiling Time (Minutes): 60
Color: 9.9 L
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 10 day @ 66 F
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 10 day @ 66 F (dry hop for 5)


Mash @ 152F for 60 minutes

Ingredients:
------------
1 lb Crystal 60L
2 lb 2 row base

3.3 lb Extra Light Dry Extract
3.3 lb pilsen LME
1 lb candi sugar


1 oz chinook (First Wort Hop)
0.50 oz centennial (30 min)
1 oz Cascade (15 min)
1 oz Cascade (1 min)

1 oz Cascade Dry hop
0.50 oz Centennial dry hop

1.00 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 15.0 min)
1 Pkgs American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056)

Check up on the crystal you may want to mess around it that. the hop schedule looks solid, abut why are you using pilsen lme? I would just say use light lme. but its up too you!

3.0 pounds of DME will be more practical than 3.3 pounds

You absolutely can, and possibly should, add more grain and less extract. Can you manage eliminating half the extract, and adding 4-5 lbs of 2-row? Or maybe drop to 1 lb. DME...it depends on your pot size (7 lbs grain >> ~2.5 gallons to mash in).

I can see adding some sugar to lighten a big beer (particularly that extract tends to leave a high FG), but does it need to be candi rather than cane or corn?

I agree, try and do more two row and less extract if you can manage. I've been following the deathbrewer PM method for quite a few batches now. It isn't any harder to mash more grain, in fact I can usually keep my mash temperature better with more grain.

One thing I'd add is that I got much better efficiency by adding a step to the deathbrewer method. I add some near-boiling water to the mash before moving it to the second sparge pot. Usually around 1/3 of the amount of water I mashed in. My steps go:
1) mash grain in X gal of water, 60 minutes
2) add 1/3 X gal of 200F water, 10 minutes
3) drain grain and move to sparge pot of 175F water. Stir, wait 10 minutes
4) combine both pots, boil as usual

I boosted my efficiency quite a bit by adding the second step. However, I made plenty of brews without it that turned out just fine.

McGarnigle said:

3.0 pounds of DME will be more practical than 3.3 pounds

You absolutely can, and possibly should, add more grain and less extract. Can you manage eliminating half the extract, and adding 4-5 lbs of 2-row? Or maybe drop to 1 lb. DME...it depends on your pot size (7 lbs grain >> ~2.5 gallons to mash in).

I can see adding some sugar to lighten a big beer (particularly that extract tends to leave a high FG), but does it need to be candi rather than cane or corn?

Click to expand...

Not sure why, but I thought the package I bought before was 3.3 lb. I was shooting for round number. . .

I actually ended up picking up a 2 gallon cooler and using the method on BYO.com. I only have 1 pot larger enough, so that was the cheapest route. So I bumped it up to 3 lb of 2 row and one of the crystal. I ditched the LME for all DME (5 lb). As for the Candi sugar, I had a bag from a previous kit that I stole parts from. Gotta use what you have

The wort is cooling right now and I'll update the recipe once it is done and I have a gravity reading.

3.0 pounds of DME will be more practical than 3.3 pounds

Click to expand...

Not necessarily. 3.3 lb is 1.5kg.

david_42 said:

Not necessarily. 3.3 lb is 1.5kg.

Click to expand...

Yeah, but in the US at least I haven't noticed DME in that size. At the very least, I'd say he should use whatever size matches what he has, and not but another pound just to use 0.3 lbs.

irasnyd said:

I agree, try and do more two row and less extract if you can manage. I've been following the deathbrewer PM method for quite a few batches now. It isn't any harder to mash more grain, in fact I can usually keep my mash temperature better with more grain.

Click to expand...

I'm shooting for about five pounds of grain on partial mashes using the DB method. More grain does seem to hold the temp a little better over the course of the mash.