First AG batch, Unnamed Amber Ale, thoughts on recipe?

I will be brewing my first AG batch this weekend. I recently built a simple mash tun from my 48qt ice cube ice chest, with a bazooka screen. Tested its ability to maintain heat, and it dropped 10 in an hour and a half, so I'll have to monitor that somewhat frequently, but other than that functioned well in other optests, draining well and all, not leaking, holding up to hot water. I also obtained a 35qt SS stock pot for the boil, with an SQ14 burner, immersion cooler to cool it off and the rest is standard. My thoughts on recipe and technique:

Grains:

7.00# American Two-row Pale
2.00# Munich Malt
1.00# American Crystal 60L
1.00# Victory or Carastan Malt
=11.00#

Hop Schedule:

0.50 Simcoe Pellet @ 60 min
0.25 Cascade Pellet @ 60 min
0.50 Cascade Pellet @ 15 min
0.25 Simcoe Pellet @ 15 min
0.50 Simcoe Pellet @ 1 min
0.25 Cascade Pellet @ 1 min

Yeast: WLP001 California Ale yeast or Safale US-05.

60 min single infusion mash using 1.1 qt per pound (12 qts) strike water at 170F to hit a mash temp of 154F. A little thick, but I want the flexibility to add boiling water to keep temp throughout the mash. Mashout with 4qts 170F water, sparge with approx 14 qts water to get approx 6.5 gallons total boil volume after 1.1 gallon loss to grain absorption. I'll boil, add hops as scheduled, cool and rack to fermenter.

Predicted OG is 1.049 if my mash efficiency reaches as high as 70% (hoping for more, planning for less) with 45 IBU and 11 SRM.

First, thoughts on my plan? Is it looking doable? Anything you'd change as a first timer?

Also, any thoughts on the ingredients? Thinking of adding another pound of 2-row, and I can't decide on the Carastan vs Victory. I don't actually know if I can find Carastan at my LHBS, but want to use it if they have it. I know Victory is far from a direct substitute, but I want to use it in a brew sometime, so why not now? Also possibly want to add a little Carapils (1/4# or so). Ultimate hop choice will be what I can find at the time as well.

 

Did you pre-heat the cooler when you did the heat test? If not, it will make a huge difference. I would bet that if you took the temperature of the water after 15 minutes compared to the temp after 1.5 hours it would be much less of a drop than you got before(assuming you didn't preheat). If you did preheat the tun for your test, then ignore what I just said

I'm still pretty new to making recipes, but I don't see anything wrong with yours.

 

I dumped in 3 gallons of 175F water, took a temp read after 10 to 15 minutes, it was 162 (so I'm assuming preheated) then took a reading 1 to 1.5 hrs after that and it was 152. It was just water, grain retains heat better, so it won't be as drastic, but there will still be some heat loss due to the inefficiency of the cooler's insulation.

I already expected it, and wanted to be sure before I put a batch in. I have a small electric kettle that I can heat 2 qts water to a boil in no time, so I'll have that on standby to boil water before I check the temp each time.

 

Based on your description, it sounds like you're batch sparging. That's something I'm a bit unfamiliar with since I fly sparge, so someone may need to correct me if I'm wrong.

In batch sparging, don't you need to calculate the dead space of your mash tun? If so, you'll need to do this so that you can accurately hit preboil volume...

 

Nope! Just add as much sparge water as volume needed to fill the kettle. Deadspace and grain absorption are compensated for with the first runnings.

 

Good point, I may want to figure out my dead space before I start my first batch as well. I hadn't really read much about that until now.

Already changing it up just a bit...adding an extra pound of 2-row, and instead of Crystal 60 doing 40 and 120 (1# and 1/2# respectively). really breaking from the KISS method of doing things, but oh well.

 

Ok, you did exactly what I was saying you should do. Nice work. Another thing that will help is the grain takes up a lot of space, so you will have less empty space in the cooler. It sounds like you have this pretty much figured out though.

 

+1 ^

because you are going to have grain, and more than 3 gallons of liquid in there (shoot for about 1.33 qts per lbs of grain) your deadspace on the top of the cooler will be significantly less and you wont get nearly the temp drop.

Sounds like your plan off attack is pretty solid. I wouldn't mind seeing your mash temp come down to say, 152...but that's just me.

Also, keep in mind GRAIN temp as well. brewing in the summer and storing grain in the garage at temp's of maybe 90 will have a different affect than if you are brewing in the winter, where grain temps are 50... just an FYI

Also, just a word of advice when batch sparging. GO SLOW if you just open up the valve and "let'er rip" you might be sacrificing some efficiency. Be patient, open the valve maybe 30% go slow.

...I fly sparge for this exact reason. I like it slow haha

 

Citation needed. This makes no sense.

 

Just brewed this. It was a pretty long brew day. Recipe didn't stay the same after I visited the brew store. Here it is:

Grains:

8.00# American Two-row Pale
1.50# Munich Dark Malt
1.00# American Crystal 40L
0.50# American Crystal 120L
1.00# Carastan Malt
=12.00#

Hop Schedule:

0.50 Magnum Pellet @ 60 min
0.50 Cascade Pellet @ 60 min
0.50 Cascade Pellet @ 15 min
0.50 Magnum Pellet @ 1 min
0.50 Cascade Pellet @ 1 min
0.50 Cascade Pellet will be Dry Hopped in 10 days.

Yeast: WLP001 California Ale yeast

I ended up holding the temp between 152 and 149 for 60 min, with a majority of the time at 151. Pre-boil volume was just under 7 gallons, with SG of 1.044, post boil volume was 5.25 with 1.060 OG. Beautiful reddish amber color, delicious, sweet, hoppy wort. I can't wait to bottle it and try it.

 

I took a hydrometer sample of this last night. It was down to a SG of 1.011. The sample tasted similar to many west coast amber ales I've had (pretty much what I was shooting for, so that's good), with a hop forward flavor, but nearly balanced with a mild caramel sweetness from the malt. Probably a thinner mouthfeel, but not watery. After the sample I added .5 oz cascade for DH to boost the hop aroma, and I will bottle sometime this week.

How common is it to have such high attenuation? Can I attribute it to a low mash temp? It hovered around 150-152 for the duration of the mash anytime I checked it.

 

Green beer usually tastes thin, bitter, sour. It should improve over the next couple weeks.

001 is a real chomper. That sounds like what it's capable of (in conjunction with a low mash temp).