correct water volumes???

[grubac]

Hey Guys

I'm preparing for my 4th ever beer. We're going to do it this weekend. However, I'm trying to determine what my water to grain ratio should be for the mash and also how much water I should use for sparging. The last time I brewed, I had to stop sparging before I reached the right gravity because of size of my fermentor. I want to try and avoid this next time.

These are the facts:

My fermentor holds 45 Litres
My boiler holds 60 litres

As far as I know, the water to grain ration should be from 3-4 litres per kg of grain. If I randomly pick a 4 litre/kg grain ration, then I'll need 20 litres of mash water for 5 kg of grain.

According to John Palmer, about 1.5 times the amount of mash water should be prepared for sparging. Therefore, I'll need about 30 litres of sparge water. This water added to the mash water gives me 50 litres. If I account for a 5 liter boiling loss, I should land right on 45 Litres.

Does this seem right to you guys?? Am I forgetting anything? It seems like a small amount of grain for a 45 litre batch, but mabye I'm wrong.

Any thoughts would be much appreciated

Thanks in advance

Grubac

[vacant]

Seems wrong to me. My total grain bill is usually around 4.5Kg, for that I'd start with a total of 35 litres. That's for BIAB or batch sparging.

Now, I only have a single element boiler so I guess if you have a fierce gas burner you might boil off way more than I do in 90 minutes? I aim for around 29 litres at the start of boil (5-6 litres lost in mash tun dead space/soaked in grain).

Edit: have you tried the "Beer Engine" software (free, works on windows & I use on Linux with Wine)? You can state want volume you want for your FV, your grain bill, and it does lots of calculations for you.

[grubac]

nice, yeah I forgot to take into account the water lost to soakage. I DO have a pretty fierce gas burner, so I'll definitely loose at least 3-5 litres.

So, your water to grain ratio is around 7? that seems high

[vacant]

So, your water to grain ratio is around 7? that seems high

Er, I think we're at cross purposes here. I've not really come across that "3-4" l/kg ratio though I have come across 2.5 as a ratio of mash liquor to grain - i.e. 4.5KG grain added to 11.25 liquor for a 90 minute mash. My 35/4.5=7.8 where 35= total vol I'm using but you say your ratio is 4 litre/kg but start with 50l for 4.5kg (=11.1). Sorry, I'm confused. Put it down to the bank holiday beer I've started