[69franx]

To me it sounds like he steeped rather than mashed. Constant heat and when it hit 170, he pulled it. No real reat, and through temps too fast. No time to convert before hitting 170 and being denatured? Just my rookie guess...

[morticaixavier]

I went with:
11 lb California Select 2 row
1 lb carafa II
1 lb German Munich
1 lb Crystal 20

Mashing may have been the process with the most questions. I put the mash in at 130, and then pulled it at 170. Now, this is most likely where part of my problem is. From what I understand, it's not to get too hot, and interpreted that as, when it reaches 170, yank it rather than maintain that temp for a duration of time (sounding like and hour). I had it clocked at 25-30. That's not right, right? That was just for the mash. I did a 60 minute boil with 1 oz simcoe, 1 oz. citra, 1 oz. amarillo.
And my sparging techniques was to heat water in a separate kettle and run it over the grain and back into the mash. I'm seeing that technique isn't very effective. Also, I didn't reserve any amount of the recipe call water, and added more water in the sparge to the mash. So, like, 9 gallons in total.

I'm pretty much chalking this batch up as a lesson learned, but, maybe you guys can help me with number 2.

it's all good. lesson learned.

When mashing grains you want to stabilize the temperature of the full mixture at a temp ~155. This is the mid point of the range that goes ten degrees in either direction and a decent place to start. Now leave it there for an hour.

You also have to make sure you stir everything really well and all the grain is saturated with water. Your volumes were fine. you mashed with 7 gallons and sparged with 2 not ideal but not the problem. You would get about 7-8 gallons into the kettle which is fine. check out http://dennybrew.com/ for a very easy to follow explanation of the process and a nice and cheap way to get the equipment together.

[djmoresi]

Sorry for the delayed response, had to work.
So, I scrapped the entire first batch. I was really winging it there. I went back over my mash temps and times and say that I was far too loosey goosey and proud (see: clueless) with the entire process.
So, I went back to work. This morning I tried it again, but, I set my sights just a bit lower and went with a light malt extract. I did a single infusion of 1 lb of Crystal 20L, 1 lb of Carafa II, and 1 lb of German Munichn at 150-155 at half an hour. Batch sparged with water at 172. Took the flame off, stirred in the extract. Then continued a 60 minute boil with simcoe, citra, and amarillo. Cooled from 210-70 in about an hour. This reading was 1.080., pot. alc. 12.5, BRIX at 20. Now, whether I nailed this baby or not is to be determined, but, I definitely feel much better about it.