First time flaked wheat / dry hopping

“Is the flaked wheat good to go right in the mash? Is there any prep I need to do? Should I add it to the mash last? On top of the grains and stir it in?” Just add the flaked wheat with your base malt and mash it for 60 minutes. You can stir it in if you want but 4 ounces of flaked wheat is not much; you really don’t need to take any ‘extra’ precautions.

“My mash tun is an Igloo cooler with a bazooka screen in the bottom. I picked up some rice hulls as insurance against a stuck, gummy sparge. What is the ratio of hulls to flaked wheat I should achieve prior to adding to the mash?” Since you are only using 4 ounces of Flaked Wheat there is no need to use rice hulls. 4 ounces of Flaked Wheat will have negligible impact to your sparge.

“The recipe calls for one ounce of Kent Goldings for seven days. Are there any precautions (I'm thinking of sanitation here) I should take regarding the dry-hopping?” There is no need for precautions (sanitation) as regards the hops used for dry hopping. I personally utilize a muslin bag and marbles (to weigh down the bag) when I dry hop. If you use a muslin bag and objects to weigh them down you should sanitize those items; I boil my bag and marbles for 5 minutes.

“Should I wait for fermentation to end before adding the dry hops?” Yes, you should. I typically wait until the fermentation stops bubbling, wait 1-2 days more and then simply add the dry hops to the primary.

Good luck with your ESB!

Cheers!

 

You won't go wrong with any of the advice JackHorzempa provided above. But I'll add a couple of thoughts...

Although 4 ounces of flaked wheat is unlikley (on its own) to cause a stuck sparge, there are many factors that go into a successful lauter. Sometimes it can be something beyond your control, like the viscosity (or lack therof) of the base malt. I have a friend who had a sack of M.O. (I think) that turned into a brick every time it was used. All this was a long-winded way of saying...it's good to have rice hulls around just in case. They can be added after the sparge is (unexpectedly) stuck to get you unstuck.

Most people wait until primary fermentation is done before they dry hop. However, some people (including at least one pro brewer IIRC) strongly believe that the flavor/aroma character from dry hops added toward the end of the primary is different (and better) than if added after (in spite of the tendency of fermentation to scrub the volatile oils away). Personally, I dry hop in the keg, but thought you'd like to know there are options.