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Sorry if this seems to be a stupid question but when planning a grain bill, if I'm shooting for a 1.75:1 ratio, is the water amount the total water used from the start pre mash or the end batch size?
Also, for my 1st batch I am debating trying an oak aged black IPA steeping chocolate malt after the boil to darken the color. Any thoughts and tips would be appreciated.

The water to grain ratio is the total amount of water used to mash in. So for example if you have 15 pounds of grain and wanted a 1.75 ratio you would mash in with 26.25 quarts of water.

As far as steeping for color, I have only done this once and I used some black barley during the last 20 min of the boil to get some color. It worked out ok but I am not totally sure how much color it added. If you have beersmith it allows you to add grain after boil and it will calculate the color addition. I am not real comfortable adding steeped wort with out boiling it for at least 10-15 min to kill any bacteria.