First stout recipe. Looking for pointers

[BeerDirigible]

Hey everyone this is my first American Stout recipe I wrote I'm just looking for tips. I'm a big fan of Sierra Nevada Stout I was looking for something like that and trying to keep it pretty simple. Thanks!

American stout recipe

Boil 5.5 gal (60 min boil)
5 gallons in fermenter

5 lbs. light DME
1 lb. wheat DME

Steeping grains (all cold steeped 24 hrs in 1 gal pre boiled or distilled water)

.5 lb. roasted barley
.5 lb. chocolate malt
.5 lb. black malt
.5 lb. crystal 60

1 oz. Magnum (15 AA) @ 60 mins
.5 oz. cascade (6.7 AA) @ 10 mins
.5 oz. cascade (6.7 AA) @ whirlpool

Immersion wort chiller

Yeast 2 packets US-05 rehydrated

Fermented at 68 degrees (ambient temp I don't have temp control yet)

 

[m1k3]

You can steep in your full volume, 2# of grain is going to absorb much of you 1 gallon.

68F ambient is a bit high for me... got a wet t-shirt or bath tub?

Recipe looks solid.

 

[BeerDirigible]

Thanks for the reply I was thinking about doing the cold steep just to cut down on any astringency from the dark grains and then adding the cold steeped water to the wort in the last five minutes of the boil.

I ferment in glass carboys maybe I'll try the swamp cooler thing with wet T-shirt and water in the base of the bucket around the fermenter.

 

[porterpounder]

You may still get some astringency from steeping those dark malts, that's just the nature of husked dark malts. If you want to cut that for sure, use something like de-husked carafa or Black Prinz in place of the chocolate and patent malts.

 

[BeerDirigible]

You may still get some astringency from steeping those dark malts, that's just the nature of husked dark malts. If you want to cut that for sure, use something like de-husked carafa or Black Prinz in place of the chocolate and patent malts.

Thanks for the tip, will the carafa and black prinz still contribute a similar flavor as chocolate malt or are they more used for adjusting color?