Math help

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Chefencore

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 14, 2011
Messages
352
Reaction score
7
Location
Columbus
So I'm trying out my first all grain today. The calculators are all giving me a different answer.
Grain bill is 10.64lbs
Sacch rest at 148degF for 60 minutes
Mashout at 168degF for 10 minutes

If I'm mashing at 1.5qt/lb and infusing to raise to 168, how much sparge water do I need, and at what temp?
So far what I have is 4 gallons strike at 168 and 2.12 gallons boiling water to raise mash to 168. One calculator says 1.9 gal sparge water. The other says 4-5 gallons.
 
I usually heat about 3 gallons of sparge water to about 190 and sparge until I have 6.5 gallons drained from the mash tun into the boil kettle, then boil away...
 
I used to use this one:

http://rackers.org/calcs.shtml/

But if you prefer, you can do your own calculations based on Specific Heat Aa + Bb = Cc. Just google it. I did this and my results correspond well with the link and my results have been good.
 
So I'm trying out my first all grain today. The calculators are all giving me a different answer.
Grain bill is 10.64lbs
Sacch rest at 148degF for 60 minutes
Mashout at 168degF for 10 minutes

If I'm mashing at 1.5qt/lb and infusing to raise to 168, how much sparge water do I need, and at what temp?
So far what I have is 4 gallons strike at 168 and 2.12 gallons boiling water to raise mash to 168. One calculator says 1.9 gal sparge water. The other says 4-5 gallons.

Maybe I am responding too late in your brewday, but here is how I would do it.

Strike water: (10.64 lb)(1.5qt/lb) = 15.96 qt or ~16 qt = 4 gal. 168*F sounds fine, it's usually easier to stir the mash to lower the temp than to have to add more hot water to raise it.
Grain absorption and first runnings: (10.64 lb)(.125 gal/lb) + (.365 gal dead space) = 1.695 gal loss. 4 gal - 1.695 gal = 2.305 into your kettle. If you are aiming for 6.5 gal pre-boil, 6.5 gal - 2.305 gal = 4.195 gal sparge water needed.
Mash-out and/or sparge: This is more up to you now that you know how much water you have to work with. You could do the mash-out like you plan with 2.12 gal boiling water, then sparge with 2.005 gal. I would probably just do two sparges with 2.1 gal.

I always round my numbers a bit when it comes to measuring, as I'm not crazy enough to try and measure one thousandth of a gallon. Hopefully this helps, your mileage may vary, but I always get the right volumes with this method. Good luck with your brew!
 
Back
Top