Will my 5 gallon pot work for partial mash?

I saw this partial mash recipe and would like to make it. I just don't know if I can. I've posted the recipe and then my comments/questions.

Recipe Type: All Grain
Yeast: Wyeast 1272
Yeast Starter: pitched on cake
Batch Size (Gallons): 5
Original Gravity: 1.092
Final Gravity: 1.028
IBU: 98
Boiling Time (Minutes): 60
Color: 45.4 SRM
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 30 days @ 65
Additional Fermentation: no
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 90 days at room temp
Tasting Notes: Good, strong malty RIS

Ingredients:
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Amount Item Type % or IBU
4.75 lb Light Dry Extract (8.0 SRM) Dry Extract 32.76 %
6.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 41.38 %
1.25 lb Oats, Flaked (1.0 SRM) Grain 8.62 %
1.00 lb Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 6.90 %
0.75 lb Barley, Flaked (1.7 SRM) Grain 5.17 %
0.50 lb Black Barley (Stout) (500.0 SRM) Grain 3.45 %
0.25 lb Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) Grain 1.72 %
1.00 oz Northern Brewer [10.60 %] (60 min) Hops 41.5 IBU
1.00 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.40 %] (60 min) Hops 56.4 IBU


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body, No Mash Out
Total Grain Weight: 9.75 lb
----------------------------
Single Infusion, Medium Body, No Mash Out
Step Time Name Description Step Temp
60 min Mash In Add 12.19 qt of water at 168.2 F 156.0 F


Notes:
------
Checked SG on 7-10-09 = 1.030

After 30 days primary fermentation, rack to keg. Age for 3 months.


Ok - I've been doing some more reading on partial mash, given the flaked oats, I just can't get away with not doing a partial mash...So I've read that great sticky thread with the pictures on partial mash and will give it a try. I've also read that really good conversion guide from 1998. But I'm still a little unsure of the liquid/volume. I have a 5 gallon pot, and some smaller ones. If i were to mash a total of 7.75 lbs (4lbs of pale malt and the 3.75 of all the others), would this fit in my 5 gallon pot along with water of about 2.58 gallons (based on 1 gallon per 3 lbs of grain)?

If I use another 2.58 gallons for sparge, and assuming I lose 1 gallon from the mash, when I combine, I'll have about 4.17 gallons to bring the wort to a boil. (Based on my conversion the remaining 2 lbs of pale malt would convert to 1.33 lbs of DME (2/3 DME per 1lb grain) bringing the total DME to 6.08 lbs).

If my water to grain ratio is right, I'm comfortable using the 5 gallon pot for that part, I just don't know if 7.75 lbs of grain plus 2.58 gallons of water will fit comfortably (for my sanity's comfort as well) in a 5 gallon pot. Do I have a shot at this? And if not, could I be able to adjust this downward?

Also, had a question on the instructions when it says: 60 min Mash In Add 12.19 qt of water at 168.2 F 156.0 F

What does this mean, is the temperature range for mashing 156 - 168? That's seems like a pretty wide range to me.
Alos, do I have to keg this? Could I just let sit the primary and then bottle? Do I really need to wait 3 months for an optimal beer?

Deskjockey894 said:

Ok - I've been doing some more reading on partial mash, given the flaked oats, I just can't get away with not doing a partial mash...So I've read that great sticky thread with the pictures on partial mash and will give it a try. I've also read that really good conversion guide from 1998. But I'm still a little unsure of the liquid/volume. I have a 5 gallon pot, and some smaller ones. If i were to mash a total of 7.75 lbs (4lbs of pale malt and the 3.75 of all the others), would this fit in my 5 gallon pot along with water of about 2.58 gallons (based on 1 gallon per 3 lbs of grain)?

If I use another 2.58 gallons for sparge, and assuming I lose 1 gallon from the mash, when I combine, I'll have about 4.17 gallons to bring the wort to a boil. (Based on my conversion the remaining 2 lbs of pale malt would convert to 1.33 lbs of DME (2/3 DME per 1lb grain) bringing the total DME to 6.08 lbs).

If my water to grain ratio is right, I'm comfortable using the 5 gallon pot for that part, I just don't know if 7.75 lbs of grain plus 2.58 gallons of water will fit comfortably (for my sanity's comfort as well) in a 5 gallon pot. Do I have a shot at this? And if not, could I be able to adjust this downward?

Also, had a question on the instructions when it says: 60 min Mash In Add 12.19 qt of water at 168.2 F 156.0 F

What does this mean, is the temperature range for mashing 156 - 168? That's seems like a pretty wide range to me.
Alos, do I have to keg this? Could I just let sit the primary and then bottle? Do I really need to wait 3 months for an optimal beer?

Click to expand...

For 7.75 pounds of grain, you'll want to mash in 9.68 quarts of water (which is 1.25 quarts of water per pound of grain). Call in 9.75 quarts for ease of measuring.

There is a handy calculator on the Green Bay Rackers website, here: http://www.rackers.org/calcs.shtml that is called "can I mash it?" and it tells me that you can mash your grain and water in 3.04 gallons of space. So, it looks that that will work in your pot. (Check out those calculators- very handy!).

For the temperature, you'll want to use the strike water calculator (same site, same page). If your grain is at 68, and you want to mash at 156, your water should be 173 degrees. That "168" is for the recipe creator's system- he must be using a different pot/mashtun than you are, or maybe his grain is warmer. Anyway, use a temperature that will make your grain/water mash come out to 156. Keep a pot of boiling water nearby incase you have to add a bit more hot water if your temperature is too low. You can add a couple of ice cubes if your mash is too hot. But don't be too quick to adjust it- stir well, and then stir some more, until the grain is thoroughly wetted throughout and the temperature is taken throughout as well. If the temperature is different, stir some more! THEN wait a couple of minutes and check the temperature again. At that point, if it's too high or too low, you can add the boiling water (or ice or cold water), a little at a time, until it's right. Anywhere from 153-158 will do for your purposes, though, so don't stress if you're not at exactly 156.

Now, you'll end up with approximately 1.5 gallons out of the mash. So you can sparge with whatever you need to get you to your boil volume (I assume about 3.5 gallons?). So, sparge your grains with 2 gallons of 170 degree water. Combine the runnings (if doing it in two pots), or pour the sparge water over the bagged grains in a strainer (if doing it in one pot), and bring to a boil. That's it- that's the PM version.

I like adding some of the extract at the end of the boil, to keep the pot from being too full and "thickening" the wort too much, but you can do that however you want to.

Hey thanks Cooper - I saw that calculator but wasn't sure if the 3.04 gallons was solely for grains, great to realize that includes both the grains and water.

I have a follow up on the sparge technique using the strainer, what's the rate I'm trying to pour through the grains. Say comparable to light water running out of a faucet, not too fast?

Once saturated that is a lot of grain to be messing with while hot...lots of opportunity for sticky spills and burns. I imagine you are going to use a grain bag, but make sure to think how you are going to pull that from the pot and rinse the grain. A stainless collander or something similar that is big enough or has handles that can rest on the pot edge is a good idea to hold the weight while rinsing the grains...I remember my first time running around the kitchen for something to use, bad planning and led me to go all grain quickly.

Bensiff said:

Once saturated that is a lot of grain to be messing with while hot...lots of opportunity for sticky spills and burns. I imagine you are going to use a grain bag, but make sure to think how you are going to pull that from the pot and rinse the grain. A stainless collander or something similar that is big enough or has handles that can rest on the pot edge is a good idea to hold the weight while rinsing the grains...I remember my first time running around the kitchen for something to use, bad planning and led me to go all grain quickly.

Click to expand...

Good point! I had a big heavy duty metal strainer to put over my pot, and rest the grain bag in it. Also, make sure the grain is "loose" in the bag- don't overstuff it because you want the mash to be fluid. Use two bags (or more) if you have to.

A slow rinsing is fine, or you can put the grain bag into another pot (or even your bottling bucket!) and pour the sparge water into it and stir like mad and then drain. I use do use my bottling bucket for PM all the time back when I started.

I like the idea of using the bucket. So at this stage, there's no harm in the liquid being aerated?

Deskjockey894 said:

I like the idea of using the bucket. So at this stage, there's no harm in the liquid being aerated?

Click to expand...

You would have to really work to have HSA impact your beer...look at the pro's systems as they pump the wort into the boil kettle, all sorts of areation. If there is any area you want to be concerned with is after the boil...go easy on the wort as it cools down, but even then you would have to be intentionally doing something to cause harm.