If this is your first all grain batch I would keep it simple. If going liquid I would still do a starter as it will get it going faster. I personally just hate lag time. I would ditch the ginger and the lemon. Just because you're going to have so much other stuff to deal with.
The fact that they were in Ziplocks and not vacuum sealed scares me. Plus Cascade if not handled correctly loses Alpha Acids faster than most hops.I think you are correct that it could be your hops that are at issue.
Look at this chart.
Here is a link to the calculator I use feel free to copy it. I squeeze really hard and it hits my numbers pretty well. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/15GRihejTkN0rgrXlFxpBugsVlUSdrZPXQWZmFrnZEhw/edit?usp=drive_web
I had my temp probe rip my bag in a brew, so I bought the keggle version of the Brew Bag. It's pretty spendy bit doesn't catch on anything. I would r recommend this.
I made one last year and won gold in the historical beer category. I was easy, fun and super tasty. You grist looks just like mine, I used Patagonia Black Malt and Briess crystal 120. Turned out great.
I have followed the instructions but I keep getting a 404 not Found error with the files sitting in the /var/www/ folder. Has anyone else had this issue?