Mash temp advice

[theNOOB]

Just got back from camping in the Ozarks and I got to stop by Hot Springs, Arkansas and pick up some brew water. I'm planning an American amber ale with the following recipe:

Batch size: 4-5 gal US
Grain bill:
1 lb Caravienne
1 lb crystal 60L

Extract:
3 lb Briess Pilsen DME
1 lb Briess Munich LME
1/2 lb dextrose

1 tsp Irish moss 15 min.

1 oz Cascade hop pellets @ 60 min
1 oz Calypso hop pellets @ 30 min
1 oz Amarillo whole hops @ 14 days

Safale US-05

I'm unsure about a mash temp because this is only my third batch and my second using grains.
Ive looked at a lot of the clone recipes for an idea of a good temperature but I've had very few of the beers that they're based on so I don't know how they taste.

I'm going for a good summer beer that's a little lighter in body but doesn't sacrifice all the flavor of the malts.

My questions:
Anyone have any suggestions for a mash temp that will give me the flavor I want?


Does anyone see any problems with the current recipe/hop schedule?

Could I have answered these questions with some good brewing software?

Has anyone else brewed with this water before?

 

[SwampassJ]

Try this beer (extract version further down in the thread)

or this beer

Just sub in your hops instead but try to same close to the amounts used if you can. If the AA% is something like double cut the bittering additions down some but leave the aroma/flavor hops (less than 25 minutes or so in the boil) the same.

You're going to be steeping, not mashing. Mashing is done when you have a base malt and you're using the malt, water (1quart/lb - 2quart/lb @ 149-158degrees). I can't answer best temperature to steep, I've never done an extract batch but I would assume 165ish to be a good temp to steep.

You have almost 30% of your recipe as a cara/crystal malt. You are going to get a very sweet and dextrinous beer from that much crystal. I don't usually go over 10%. The sugar will help dry the beer out but it's not going to help enough with all of those cara/crystal malts.

I can't really answer on hops because I've never used Calypso and Armarillo but anything boiled for more than 30 minutes is going to contribute mostly bittering and not much in flavor or aroma.

 

[frankstoneline]

shoot for 150 for an hour with the grains, the malt extracts will provide plenty of body

 

[theNOOB]

Yes, steeping temp is what I should've said.

Thanks for the pointers