please help, brewing my first imperial Stout. w00t Stout kit

[jturkish]

I'll be brewing this in a few weeks

http://www.northernbrewer.com/documentation/allgrain/AG-w00tstout.pdf

any tips on brewing this beast?

I'll be pitching 3 packs of us05. Mr malty says to pitch 2 but brewers friends says i need about 3

Kit says to do a protein rest. I'm told this is standard kit info whenever there is wheat or rye.

I think i need to doa protein rest anyways. What do you think?

Its a five gallon batch. I have two apps to calculate mash and sparge volumes but both give me different numbers. The one i use most often says mash with 6.75 gallons and sparge with 4. While the wort app has the same for mash but sparge is 5 gallons. I boil off 1 gallon per hour so in a 90 minute boil i should boil off 1.5 gallons. This means i should have a boil volume of 6.5 gallons. I didn't account anything for trub because there's very little hops added

 

[Tandoori]

I've never done that kit, or that style, but I have done a number of wheat beers, and never bothered with a protein rest, and they've all turned out fine (except for one that was slightly off due to higher fermentation temps). But if you'll have more peace of mind after doing it, and are confident in your ability to control your temperatures, then I say go for it. Just try not to stress too much over it.

As far as your yeast, goes, have you thought about preparing a starter? This might be a good opportunity to...start. heh.

As far as different results with your software, having extra sparge water isn't really an issue if you're going for a specific pre-boil volume (assuming you are fly sparging), unless you're concerned about water conservation and efficiency there. Add a little extra water to your HLT, relax, have a homebrew, and enjoy your brew day.

 

[jturkish]

Thank you

I've never done a protein rest and it sounds like a p.i.t.a to do with a cooler

Not starting on starters (good one buddy) is part laziness and part what seems like time and effort and cost compared to just buying 2 to 3 packs of dry yeast

Thanks for your help