I have to mash at 1 qt/lb. What will this do?

I usually mash at 1.25+ qt/lb of grain. I am doing a 12g batch and at my 68% eff, I have to max out at 1 qt/lb. or I won't have enough space in my mashtun (10g round cooler). Should I plan on any difference in eff or anything else?

At 68%, how can it get much worse? I would plan for a drop in 8% - i notice a drop in efficiency about that much when I mash too thick.

Your efficiency will go down. Even 1.25qt/lb is a low ratio. (IMO) I would try to stay close to 1.5qt/lb

Why don't you do 2 mashes with half a batch of grain each time?

Is your efficiency 68% with other large batches tor smaller (5gallon batches)? If its with the smaller batches, your efficiency will likely go up a few points. I've read thicker mashes take longer to convert, so possibly just rest longer if your schedule allows it.

I usually get 80 to 85% with 1.3 quarts/lb. Last week I did a mash of 1 qt/lb, expected 75% efficiency, but was surprised and ended up with 83%.

I deliberately took longer, going from about 40 minutes to over an hour, and that probably helped a lot.

jetmac said:

Your efficiency will go down. Even 1.25qt/lb is a low ratio. (IMO) I would try to stay close to 1.5qt/lb

Why don't you do 2 mashes with half a batch of grain each time?

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Sometimes the simplest solution is the best....hadn't even thought of that. That's the way to go until I can get my eff% to improve. I just got a crusher, so hopefully that will be soon!

Thanks for the input!

I usually mash at 1.5 or 2 q per pound. I'll drop it down or increase it in order to move my batch sparge quantity more or less even with my infusion quantity.

I did a Belgian Dark Strong a month ago that had a 20 pound grain bill. I also mash in a 10 gallon rubbermaid. So I did what you did and dialed the infusion down to 1 qt per pound.

Couple things...

Your efficiency will suffer. You simply will not get the same amount of sugar out of your grain as you would with a higher water-per-pound ratio. It's not horrible, but it's not going to be ~70%. Probably looking closer to 60-65%.

You will have to heat the water more to hit your strike temperature. Use the calculations in Palmer or just use some off the shelf software.

Other than that, happy mashing.

PS -- I love the idea of splitting the grain bill and doing two mashes! I wish I had thought of that one!