First time all grain brewing

[andybrew2010]

So I finally have a full size keggle (13.5 gal boil capacity), my homemade mash tun made out of a cooler, a burner, and my fermenters. Now I would like to make my first batch of all grain and need some help. First, I would like to keep it simple on this one and do a full batch that is easy and relatively inexpensive to make. Any suggestions on recipes that resemble an autumn ale, or amber ale, seems pretty simple. And maybe a link to some instructions I could follow to keep on track?

[slothrob]

Dennybrew.com is the one that a lot of us used to get through our first all-grain batch sparge. I'd be glad to summarize the procedure or expand on any details, if you want.

I don't know that any particular recipe would be easier than another. Maybe stay away from large percentages of wheat or rye malt, and oatmeal too I suppose, and start with an average gravity beer. You don't want to have to wrestle with a huge grain bill, but with a gravity of ~1.050-1.055 you'll have some headroom if your efficiency is low, allowing you to still pull out a beer in the 1.040s.

Expect low efficiency your first time, and be prepared to adjust the bittering hops to correct for whatever gravity you get. Otherwise, make a recipe that will be forgiving if it comes out more or less bitter than expected.