Sparge and mash liquor

[Walrus81]

Hello,

I am looking to do an AG brew over the next couple of days.

I have a recipe and have everything ready to go. However I seem to have forgotten one thing.

I have a the following quantities for the liquids.

Total :20ltrs
Mash :4.5ltrs.

So is the following correct:

1). heat the 4.5ltrs to strike temp
2).Mash in
3).Leave for 90 mins
4).Heat remain liquid to strike temp.
5). After 90 mins add 1/2 liquid (10 ltrs)
6). Stir in and leave for 15 mins
7).Run off
. Whilst running off heat remaing sparge water
9).Add 2nd lot of 10 ltrs
10). Leave for 15 mins
11). Run off
12). Boil.

I just seem to have a brain freeze, it seems like someting is missing!

Many thanks!

[richc]

4.5l of water in the initial mash seems a bit low to me. AFAIK ratios of 2-3l/kg are fairly conventional.

Also some people stir the mash a few times

[Walrus81]

Thanks for the reply,

it's only a small brew about 2 1/2 kg of malt hence the small amount of liquid.

[Hogarth]

Usually you'd want the run-offs to be the same size, so you'd account for the mash water when topping up the first time.

eg, I mash in 12 litres, then add 8 litres and run off, then add 15 litres and run off. This give two batches of roughly equal sizes. There's a calculator in the calculator section you can play around with.

Even for 2.5kg of malt, 4.5 litres seems a bit low.

If your HLT is big enough, it's worth heating up all the spargewater at once, starting about half way through the mash.

[Wolfy]

it's only a small brew about 2 1/2 kg of malt hence the small amount of liquid.

My calculations suggest using 6.5L will give you a stiff mash, 10.5L a thin mash and just under 8L is in the 'ideal' range, so the 4.5L seems low to me also.
2.5kg of malt will retain around 4L, so 2x 10L sparges will give you about 20L into the kettle.
What is your target volume?

[Eric]

My calculations suggest using 6.5L will give you a stiff mash, 10.5L a thin mash and just under 8L is in the 'ideal' range, so the 4.5L seems low to me also.
2.5kg of malt will retain around 4L, so 2x 10L sparges will give you about 20L into the kettle.
What is your target volume?

Wolfy has put down specifics, his figures shouldn't be faulted.

All you really need is a mash that's wet right through at the right temperature for enough time to convert starch to sugar and enough water at a good enough temperature to wash out what you want and leave what you don't. Well, it's a bit more complicated than that, errr, no, vastly more complicated than that, but perhaps after consuming maybe a few gallons of beer you never believed you would ever make with limited knowledge, you could face a dilemma of either staying content, even permanently intoxicated, with a satisfactory brew, or sobering enough to do in depth studies of what makes a better beer.

Have enough water on hand and some to spare in case you've not enough.

Good luck, have fun, there's likely a big surprise on its way.

[Walrus81]

Thanks for the advice, I upped the quantities as suggested.

All good fun!

[Grahame]

Wolfy, I have always worked on the figure of grain absorption of 1L/kg of grain, or perhaps just a bit more. So I would say his 2.5kg of grain will absorb somewhere between 2.5 and 3l of water. All the online calculators use a constant of around 1l/kg as far as I know.

G.

[leewink]

I brew with a "hopefull" end result of 19ltrs, and start with 27.5ltrs.

I mash with the rule of 2.5ltr per kg of grain, my personal recipe calls for 2.75kg grain so its 7.5ltr mash water, I allow a bit extra as theres adjuncts in it extra on top too.

Dont forget you'll lose alot in the boil to, aswell as fermenter changes along the way.

I usually end up with just shy of 19ltr which is perfect for me, and an ABV of either 3.8 or 4.3% depending on which brew i do, my kolsch is 3.8 generally and my corn biscuit ale 4.3% although my corn ale has a lesser malt grain bill of only 2.75kg.

Brew on, lee

[boingy]

Wolfy, I have always worked on the figure of grain absorption of 1L/kg of grain, or perhaps just a bit more. So I would say his 2.5kg of grain will absorb somewhere between 2.5 and 3l of water. All the online calculators use a constant of around 1l/kg as far as I know.

G.

Except ProMash, which uses an absorption of 1.01 l/kg ! I'm hoping this is due to US to metric unit conversion rounding and not the result of someone worrying about that extra 10ml....

But, yes, a litre per kg of grain is about right.

[Wolfy]

Wolfy, I have always worked on the figure of grain absorption of 1L/kg of grain, or perhaps just a bit more. So I would say his 2.5kg of grain will absorb somewhere between 2.5 and 3l of water. All the online calculators use a constant of around 1l/kg as far as I know.

You're probably right about the 1L/kg.
The numbers on my spreadsheet were converted from US-figures probably from 'How To Brew' or 'Designing Great Beers': Grain weight in lb x 0.2 = Gallons of water = 1.67L/kg
It's possible that my conversion or the information it was based on was not correct.

But still using only 4.5L for 2.5kg of grain was going to make for a very stiff mash.