water to grain

[tricky-06]

Hi all, can someone help with what amount of water to grain ratio is when i sparge, or water to 1LB of grain when sparging, im about to brew up a uk5 gallon / 25 litres and when i do 2nd run off, what amount do i run off for the boil as after the boil there will be steam loss ?? Sorry to be a bit of a numpty on this but better to ask then get it wrong.
Thanks

[brewzone]

Lets say You are using 5Kg malt to get 25L of a 1050 or 4.8% abv beer.

If using an electrim style boiler I would be using 15L for the mash which is 3L per Kg of malt.

Each kilo of malt will absorb 1L of water.

So the first runoff if batch sparging and assuming a zero deadspace would be 10L.

Most people use equal amounts of water in each runoff so a further 2.5L would need to be added to the mash to give half the preboil amount required .

Then another 12.5L would be added to the mash then stirred and allowed to stand for 15mins.

This would be runoff giving the 25L required in the boiler.

If fly sparging You simply ensure that the runoff is performed at a rate so as to ensure the grain bed does not compact on the mash tun manifold which can cause a stuck mash.

You would need to fly sparge with 15L of water or more depending on the mash tun deadspace
and stop sparging once the required boil volume is collected.

Hope that helps.

BZ

[tricky-06]

Thanks for that brewzone
When i do my 1st full grain ill post some pictures,
Thanks

[Prozac]

I think I'll stick with my kits

[tricky-06]

I've tried the kits ( muntons, Woodfordes Wherry and 2 or 3 others but the taste is just not the same, dont no if any other home brewers are the same as me ) so im going for the big full mash brew, im into wadsworth 6x just love it , flowers original if i can get close to these ill be over the moon im new to the home brewing 4 months, but not to a good pint ?years Mmmmmmmmmm