small pot, lots of grain

I was thinking about it. When you make pasta you are supposed to use at least a gallon of water to cook it in. With that in mind would using a larger vessel for grain get you a higher efficiency? I am assuming it would be but i want to hear the thoughts from you people. It seems like if you are putting 8 lbs. of grain in a 4 gallon pot you would not have the same efficiency as you would putting that same 8 lbs. of grain in a 6 gallon pot.

Cheers

?????

I'm confused by this logic. The size of the pot is pretty irrelevant if all other variables are equal, except for maybe the different pots' boil off rates.

Do you mean to be asking a question about the starting water volumes?

Sorry, just not following here....why would the amount of the pot that has nothing in it matter to efficiency if the water volumes in both the 4 gallon and 6 gallon are the same?

if you are mashing 8 lbs. of grain in 3.5 gallons of water in a 4 gallon vessel wont everything be (pardon the pun) mashed together? If you do the same procedure in a larger vessel doesnt the grain have more room to move around or have the ability to take on more water?

Spencecore24 said:

I was thinking about it. When you make pasta you are supposed to use at least a gallon of water to cook it in. With that in mind would using a larger vessel for grain get you a higher efficiency? I am assuming it would be but i want to hear the thoughts from you people. It seems like if you are putting 8 lbs. of grain in a 4 gallon pot you would not have the same efficiency as you would putting that same 8 lbs. of grain in a 6 gallon pot.

Cheers

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The two cannot really be compared. With pasta you are really only providing enough boiled water to rehydrate the pasta. With grains you are mashing to achieve extraction. In addition the grain absorbs water causing it to swell. The general rule is anywhere from .75-1.25 gallons per lb depending on the grain bill, mash infusion, and what you are trying to achieve

For efficiency there is a lot more involved than just the volume of water being used. I will say that IME too large a mash tun will reduce efficiency if there is too much dead space. This makes it harder to maintain the proper temperature. Too small and you won't be able to accommodate the water volume required to mash the grain bill.

Spencecore24 said:

if you are mashing 8 lbs. of grain in 3.5 gallons of water in a 4 gallon vessel wont everything be (pardon the pun) mashed together? If you do the same procedure in a larger vessel doesnt the grain have more room to move around or have the ability to take on more water?

Click to expand...

1 pound of bricks weighs as much as a pound of feathers right?
8 lbs of grain in 3.5 gallons of water is.....8 lbs of grain in 3.5 gallons of water
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like topher said the size of the pot don't matter

I suppose you are correct. Im just trying to think of all the variables to increase efficiency. Some say they have no efficiency problem with the BIAB method but i keep coming short.

I normally mash with 1.25-1.5 quarts (water) per pound of milled grain. The thickness of the mash will determine how much space I'll need in the mash tun. You can have lower efficiency when mashing more grain in a mash tun compared with mashing less grain. Im talking about between a 14# grist and a 30# grist. Of course it also depends on the shape and size of the mash tun.

This is something you need to figure out early on in all grain brewing. That way you make sure you have the correct size mash tun for most/all of your batches (at the size into primary). It's also where good software really helps. It will let you factor in things like the dead space under the false bottom.