First homebrew Zombie Dust Clone too ambitious?

If by having a strategy meeting before brewing you mean getting drunk that's a bad idea. Brew sober until you know what you're doing or you'll screw up.

 

I resemble that remark!

 

20qt=5gal
Do a large of a boil as possible. It might not be a perfect clone, but you'll probably have a beer that you enjoy. If you want to do it again, look into buying at least an 8gal(32qt) to do a full boil for a 5gal batch.

 

thank you for typing all that.

yeast? gonna use 1968? gonna make a starter or use multiple packs?

with a small pot you can at least get it cooled faster without a chiller. And have the rest of your water pre-chilled to help you get the rest of the way. I'd probably just make that topoff water store-bought to be safe. Don't pitch until the wort is cooled. opinions vary but I go 3-4 degrees below my ferm temperature and then pitch.

I'm at work but I assume you've copied over the recipe for a full boil; expect to have to adjust it when boiling 4g or whatever volume you'll be doing. If you've already adjusted it great.

I believe in oxygenating with pure O2, but sometimes I just use a mix-stir and whip the bejeezus out of my non-imperial/non-lager wort before pitching my yeast.

dry-hopping... hmm, at this point I only dry-hop in a keg away from any O2 so I'll let others help you here. I don't see the point in racking if the secondary is not going to be completely full. thus you're looking at probably 5.5 gallons in your primary to get 5 in the second.
Are the hops pellet or whole? Are they gonna be in a bag or loose in your secondary? Also, I suppose you'll at least be able to taste your hydrometer sample at racking; if something is seriously wrong you can save those dry hops to try again.

 

Not to rain on your parade, but the Munich and Melanoiden need to be mashed.

 

I don't see a hydrometer among your equipment items. That minimal-cost device is very important, so I suggest that you put it on your shopping list right away.

 

"The question I have is doing a ZD clone and spending $60 on ingredients foolish for our first brew?"

No. It's ambitious. But I wouldn't say foolish.

"Should we do something easier and with less cost?"

Not necessarily. First beers almost always have flaws, but first-time brewers tend to love them anyway. In some ways, IPAs are a good first beer, because the IBUs tend to hide other flaws that might be present.

"If so any suggestions?"

I often recommend an american wheat for a first brew, just because they're simple, they're ready quickly, and they're pretty hard to mess up. But seriously, it's your hobby, your beer, so do what you feel like doing. If you do the ZD clone, two things: don't expect it to taste like ZD, and follow directions as exactly as you possibly can down to the exact fucking letter of every step (ie, don't make one of these rookie mistakes like, "well, I couldn't get the wort down to 70F so I just pitched it at 85F" or "I threw a pound of honey in at the last second just for the heck of it" or anything like that).

 

Man, surprised to step in all this piss in here. Who pissed the farthest anyway?

That being said... To the op, yes, brew a zdust clone. It's pretty easy, get some light LME or light DME, figure out how much you will need to hit your original gravity, and carpet bomb the shit out of it with citra. Use it for bittering, flavor, aroma, knock out, hopstand, and dry hop additions.
If you can't do a full wort boil you can lose hop utilization due to increased gravity, homer simpson is right about that. However you can counter this by adding a small portion of extract at the beginning of the boil and adding the majority of it at the last five minutes. Once you get done with your boil you can top your beer off to the appropriate volume with fresh water. It may not be the "right" thing to do but I have done this in the past and gotten tasty beer. Seriously, all your flaws will be hidden in a sea of dank tropical fruit anyway.

 

Cool, not that hard if you are willing to spend an extra 1/2 hour brewing your beer...check this out:
http://www.howtobrew.com/section3/chapter16-1.html

 

I just got one of these http://www.rakuten.com/prod/40-quar...team-rack-and-lid-cookware-set/232943708.html

It's not professional grade thick, but it's sturdy. I've only used it as a hot liqueur tank so far, but I will be using it for 5 gallon batches.

 

20 quarts = 5 gallons, not enough.

Turkey fryers* are common. I've got one. Works great. Big pot, plenty of heat.

However, splitting the boil between two pots is much better than topping off with water, and is perfectly acceptable. I did a few of these back in the day, and the beer came out fine. Split the hops proportionally to volumes if you use more than one pot for the boil.

*the only thing I don't recommend about a turkey fryer is actually frying turkeys with it.