5 replies to this topic

[wengared]

As i'm still getting use to my all grain system, need help. mashed a dubbel today with 14.5 pounds of grain, figured 1.5 qts. per pound. so roughly 5.5 gallons. my question is grain absorbs the water and doesn't release it all. so is there a figure per pound of grain i need to have heated to get my final volume.

[Dave McG]

As i'm still getting use to my all grain system, need help. mashed a dubbel today with 14.5 pounds of grain, figured 1.5 qts. per pound. so roughly 5.5 gallons. my question is grain absorbs the water and doesn't release it all. so is there a figure per pound of grain i need to have heated to get my final volume.

Numbers vary a bit, but 0.1 to 0.15 gallons per pound is often quoted. I usually go with 0.125 which works out to a gallon per 8 pounds of grain.

[gnef]

are you fly sparging or batch sparging?It takes a number of batches to dial in your system and figure things out. It took me at least a few batches, and now I adjust things automatically. I usually overestimate my water, and for a 10 gallon batch, I may get 13-13.5 gallons preboil, and get maybe 12 into the fermenter, after losses, I get a bit more than 10 gallons, and then use kegs and bottle the excess. It works out well for me.

[wengared]

are you fly sparging or batch sparging?It takes a number of batches to dial in your system and figure things out. It took me at least a few batches, and now I adjust things automatically. I usually overestimate my water, and for a 10 gallon batch, I may get 13-13.5 gallons preboil, and get maybe 12 into the fermenter, after losses, I get a bit more than 10 gallons, and then use kegs and bottle the excess. It works out well for me.

I've tried both, but have found to have extra water preheated because of the grain absorbsion. so as you say i will keep tweaking my method til i get it right.

[davelew]

As i'm still getting use to my all grain system, need help. mashed a dubbel today with 14.5 pounds of grain, figured 1.5 qts. per pound. so roughly 5.5 gallons. my question is grain absorbs the water and doesn't release it all. so is there a figure per pound of grain i need to have heated to get my final volume.

I use 0.1 gallons absorbed per pound of grain, so 14.5 gallons would absorb 1.45 gallons. For 14.5 pounds of grain on my system, I couldn't go with a mash ratio of 1.5 and be able to mash out. Since I like mashing out, I would go with a lower ratio. Here's how my system would work for various grist ratios:Mash ratio of 1.1:start with 14.5 pounds of grain, add 16 quarts of strike water at 174Fmash out with 9.3 quarts oif boiling watersparge with 6.6 quarts of 170F water Mash Ratio of 1.3:start with 14.5 pounds of grain, add 19 quarts of strike water at 170Fmash out with 10.6 quarts oif boiling watersparge with 2.2 quarts of 170F water Mash Ratio of 1.41:start with 14.5 pounds of grain, add 20.5 quarts of strike water at 169Fmash out with 11.3 quarts oif boiling watersparge with 0.0 quarts of 170F water (all of this assumes that I would want 6.5 gallons into the boil kettle)

[Zulu]

0.13 works for me , and I find it accurate