Question about water quantities

So, I've read a lot of information, but looking for a reason people use specific amounts of water in both the mash and the sparge.

In my first few brews, I have been using 1.25 quarts of water for every pound of grain for the mash because I read that somewhere.
In the sparge, I have just been using what the recipe recommended and have not always hit my numbers, although I've tried to sparge with extra when necessary.

Could people offer the amounts of water that they use and why? Thanks everyone that's willing to share!

It's related to your boil off volume. You need to figure that out on your own. If you for example boil off a gallon an hour, you'd want approx 6.25 into the boil kettle for a 5 gallon batch. Your sparge water would be whatever amount of water gets you to that 6.25 gal after your first runnings.

I figure it up by how much I want of finished beer. If I want 5 gal of beer then I start there and add however much is going to be left in the fermenter after racking, then add however much is lost to equipment during transfer. Then add how much is lost to kettle trub. Also account for cooling shrinkage, then figure in evaporation during boil. Next I would add the losses to grain absorption. Take that total and remove your water/grist ratio amount and mash with that. The remainder is to sparge with until you hit about 1.006 gravity in the runoff then stop and top up the kettle with the remainder of the sparge water. This is just how I have come to achieve the desired amount of finished beer. Hope this helps.

Both these responses are helpful. What about amount of water used for the mash and reasons for using that amount?

The recommended ratio of 1.25-2 quarts per pound is for optimal enzyme concentration for breaking down the starches. less water per pound would mean a thicker mash with less room for enzymes to break the sugars down before saturation is reached leaving a complex sugar wort which is less fermentable. A thinner mash (more than 2 quarts per pound) would dilute the enzymes more and in turn the conversion would take longer. It would still happen just take longer. This is at least how I understand it. Hope that answers your question.

What Jdaught said, 1.25 quarts per pound is kind of a happy medium (for infusion mashing, at least) in order to get proper enzymatic action in a roughly 60 minute period.

Jdaught said:

I figure it up by how much I want of finished beer. If I want 5 gal of beer then I start there and add however much is going to be left in the fermenter after racking, then add however much is lost to equipment during transfer. Then add how much is lost to kettle trub. Also account for cooling shrinkage, then figure in evaporation during boil. Next I would add the losses to grain absorption. Take that total and remove your water/grist ratio amount and mash with that. The remainder is to sparge with until you hit about 1.006 gravity in the runoff then stop and top up the kettle with the remainder of the sparge water. This is just how I have come to achieve the desired amount of finished beer. Hope this helps.

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How does one determine the loss to grain absorption? And "cooling shrinkage"?

The grain absorbs approximately .1 gallon per pound of grain.

drat said:

How does one determine the loss to grain absorption? And "cooling shrinkage"?

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If I am remembering correctly, shrinkage accounts for about a 6% loss in volume.

For partial mash,I use 2 gallons of local spring water for 5-6 pounds of grains. then sparge slowly with 1.5 gallons to get a total boil volume of 3.5 gallons in my 5 gallon BK/MT. This mash amount has also given good conversion. Not too thick or too thin. Def need a happy medium for PH as well.

drat said:

Both these responses are helpful. What about amount of water used for the mash and reasons for using that amount?

Click to expand...

I use 1.25 quarts per pound of grain for regular batches. This gives me a good ratio that is easy to work with. In really large batches I use 1 quart per pound for a couple reasons, (1) the volume of my mash tun won't allow me to use any more on my large batches [22 pounds of grain in a 10 gallon MLT], and (2) most of these are done at higher temperatures, and the thicker mash is supposed to protect the B-amylase from the higher temperatures.

unionrdr said:

For partial mash,I use 3 gallons of local spring water for 5-6 pounds of grains. then sparge slowly with 1.5 gallons to get a total boil volume of 3.5 gallons in my 5 gallon BK/MT. This mash amount has also given good conversion. Not too thick or too thin. Def need a happy medium for PH as well.

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So you're saying that you lose about .2 gallons per pound to absorption?

All total I loose .5-.75 by the end of the boil. Very little to absorption.

drat said:

So, I've read a lot of information, but looking for a reason people use specific amounts of water in both the mash and the sparge.

In my first few brews, I have been using 1.25 quarts of water for every pound of grain for the mash because I read that somewhere.
In the sparge, I have just been using what the recipe recommended and have not always hit my numbers, although I've tried to sparge with extra when necessary.

Could people offer the amounts of water that they use and why? Thanks everyone that's willing to share!

Click to expand...

I'm not sure why no one else asked but are you fly sparging or batch sparging? That's pretty important to know in order to suggest ways to get your volumes correct.

If you are fly sparging, the easiest thing to do is heat up the same amount of sparge water as your batch size. By the time you run out of water, you're almost done collecting wort. The grain bed won't run completely dry and you're good to go.

If you're batch sparging, assuming a 6.5 gallon preboil volume:

Mash with .3 gallons per pound of grain ( never understood why mash ratio was in quarts and absorption is discussed in gallons...pick one)

The grain keeps .1 gallons per pound.

Need to sparge with 6.5 gallons minus (pounds of grain x .2)

If you have 10 pounds of grain, you mash with 3 gallons of water.

6.5 - (10 x .2)
so 6.5 - (2)
so sparge with 4.5 gallons.

Since my PM's use 2 gallons for 5-6lbs of grains,I sparge with 1.5-1.75 gallons @ 168F to get a boil volume of 3.5-3.75 gallons in my 5G kettle. Raises my efficiency to use wort top off in kettle rather than just water. Waste not,want not.

Bobby_M said:

I'm not sure why no one else asked but are you fly sparging or batch sparging? That's pretty important to know in order to suggest ways to get your volumes correct.

If you are fly sparging, the easiest thing to do is heat up the same amount of sparge water as your batch size. By the time you run out of water, you're almost done collecting wort. The grain bed won't run completely dry and you're good to go.

If you're batch sparging, assuming a 6.5 gallon preboil volume:

Mash with .3 gallons per pound of grain ( never understood why mash ratio was in quarts and absorption is discussed in gallons...pick one)

The grain keeps .1 gallons per pound.

Need to sparge with 6.5 gallons minus (pounds of grain x .2)

If you have 10 pounds of grain, you mash with 3 gallons of water.

6.5 - (10 x .2)
so 6.5 - (2)
so sparge with 4.5 gallons.

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Where do you get the .2 from?

I get the rest of this. I can start with the amount of wort I have pre-boil and then assume that .1 gallons of wort is held in the grains and go from there.

Still not sure where you get the .2 from, though...

If you mash at .3 gallons/lb and the grain keeps .1 gallons/lb, the first runnings will be .2 gallons/lb. You sparge with preboil volume minus first runnings volume.

Bobby_M said:

If you mash at .3 gallons/lb and the grain keeps .1 gallons/lb, the first runnings will be .2 gallons/lb. You sparge with preboil volume minus first runnings volume.

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Ok, I'm a bit slow there.... . Thanks for the explanation!

Another thing that really helps me is learning what level equals how much liquid in my BK/MT. Eyeballin it then comes into play & is fairly accurate.