I have a problem in planning my first all grain

[SirTeapot]

Hi there,

I am trying to brew my first all grain batch and i would like to ask a few questions, I want to crate an IPA of sorts:

1.) I have been calculating the beer via brewtoad, and now tried beersmith

batch size will be 20 liters

for malt I am planning on using

pale ale malt 4,5 kg (9lb 14.733oz)
cara blonde 0,3 kg (10.582oz)
cara gold 0,3 kg (10.582oz)
biscuit 0,2kg (7.0548oz)

With this I am getting the OG 1.062 what bothers me is that i have tried using beersmith and i got 1.207 I think i pressed wrong button probably, however i just want to check it up with you guys. Will this be enough malt for a 20 l (1,5l more than 5 gal 5US gal 2.2675US pt ).

1.2)what do you think about the malt selection? i read somewhere it should be like 95-90% pale ale malt for an IPA and is usually accompanied by biscuit. should I cut out cara gold or blonde?

2.) It is my first All grain so I am having trouble understanding and preparing for the mashing process I am split between modifying a cooler and using a bag. I kinda noticed I will not be geeting everything out of grains because of efficiency. I would like to ask if you perhaps know what kind of efficiency should I be expecting in a bag or a in cooler the sparging method with manually pouring water.

3.) I was planning on crushing the grains with a modified pasta roller ( I grinded the rollers) I will probably operate it by hand.
or should I do it with a normal pin roller?

4.) due to effeciency I probably will not get 20 liters out of the malt or is average effeciency of mashing already accounted for in brewtoad?
I read something about fixing the og using malt extract, would it be fine if I add some dry extract prior to boil? and about boil does the boil start when I turn up the flame and start heating it or it has to be 60 minutes of bubling boil?

5.) and lastly the hops i am planing on using 23g (0.81130oz) of Magnum at 60 min 9 (0.31747oz) grams of cascade and 5 g(0.17637oz) of wakatu at 15 minuteas and 9 grams of cascade at 5min. then I am planning on dry hopping with 15 g wakatu in secondary. Is it too much? I get 43 IBU

wakatu hops are not in the database so I calculated with some more cascade wakatu have 7-10% Alpha acids.

Thank you.

 

[Jayhem]

I have a few comments:

You may want to convert your metric units into US Gallons, pounds and ounces as well to get more responses from the majority of those reading this more familiar with US units.

Do NOT use a roller pin to attempt to crush your grain. The efficiency will be horrible, probably around 50%. If that was my only option I'd run small quantities of the malt through a blender or coffee grinding to a coarse grind and then use the BIAB (beer in a bag) mashing method because turning part of the malt into flour is going to clog a mash tun drain.

I would not use more than 3-4% "Cara" type malts in an IPA. Munich or Vienna are nice up to 10% in an IPA though. This is personal preference but the caramel flavors mellow the hops if you want a hop forward beer.

 

[dadshomebrew]

I agree with the above

My suggestion. Take a gander at the recipe section, or pick out a popular recipe from elsewhere that suits your tastes. Modifying all grain recipes can be tricky, so it may be best to start with one that you know will work and get your process sorted.

Once you are comfortable all grain brewing, modify away, with this forums help of course.

 

[SirTeapot]

thank you will add converted quantities, It kinda feels wierd to me

 

[CervezaMaLa]

I would say reduce your cara gold from 10.582oz to closer to 10.573oz

How's the gap in the pasta roller?

Bottom line - enjoy yourself and don't stress it too much.

 

[SirTeapot]

the gap can be adjusted. dont know the exact measurements

 

[Kingbogart]

Both beersmith and Brewtoad have an efficiency setting in them. Brewtoad shows it near the fermentables box. I think a general starting point for most recipes is around 70%. If you know your efficiency, which you don't, you would then scale your version of the recipe to your efficiency to add or subtract grain and end up in the same place. A safe place to start is to assume 70% or maybe slightly lower, I estimated 60% for my first AG.

Do not use the rolling pin. If you're going to try your pasta modification, you're looking for a fairly fine crush, with few to no whole grains, and some flour. Something like this.

The efficiencies listed will only affect the amount of sugar in your wort, not the amount of wort collected. Knowing your SG before the boil will let you know if you need to add some DME before boiling. Preboil Gravity * Volume = Postboil Gravity * Volume. So, if you know where you want to be after boil, then you can calculate where you need to be before boil. If you don't have enough sugars to get there, add some DME to compensate.

 

[kh54s10]

1) Make sure you get a good crush on your grains. This is one of the most critical areas to making good all grain brews. There are a lot of threads with pictures.
2) I too suggest you start out with a good recipe. After you get comfortable with all grain brewing, then, start creating recipes.
3) From the questions you have asked I would suggest reading up on doing a BIAB. It is probably the simplest method of brewing all grain.
4) I would also suggest you read up, make a good plan and understand the steps before starting.
5) Beersmith is a great tool but it is not a plug and play. You have to set it up for your equipment etc. And learn what each section does before you will get a good result. There is some "dialing in" required

Sorry if I sound harsh, but I am trying to keep you from making a post asking "what happened with my beer?"

 

[CervezaMaLa]

the gap can be adjusted. dont know the exact measurements

If you don't have a feeler gauge to measure the gap, recommend using a credit card (preferable one of those throw-away pre-approved fake ones that come in the mail, or a shopper card/old hotel key/etc...) to measure. You should be able to push it in between with force, making the rollers move. That's a good general start point.