OG - Mashing the Double IPA

So my son and I just brewed our first batch on our new 15 gallon system.

It was a 10 gallon batch that is supposed to be a high gravity double IPA.

We used 28 pounds of grain. Mashed in a 70 quart extreme cooler with copper manifold. We preheated our mash tun to just over 150 degrees, added our grain and struck with 9 gallons of 160-162 degree water. We stirred it for a couple of minutes with the top open until it hit 153 degrees and then we held it there for one hour.

When we drained our first runnings, we netted just under 5 gallons of wort. Our plan was to batch sparge with 9.5 gallons of 170 degree water, stir and let sit for 10 minutes before draining. Our plans changed due to the saturation of the grain and we were only able to fit 5 gallons of sparge water in at a time. So we did two sparges of 4.75 gallons of 170 degree water letting each soak 5 minutes before vourlaff and drain.

We ended up with 13 gallons of wort at gravity of 1.051, to be boiled down to 11 gallons plus the loss of around a gallon due to hop absorption (10 oz of loose hops in the boil) and a little left in the bottom of the kettle.

I calculated that as a low efficiency of about 62-65%.

We boiled for a little over an hour. Our final volume on the sight tube was 11 gallons, but after hop absorption, we ended up with a little over 10 gallons in the carboys.

Our original gravity at 60 degrees was 1.061.

We were shooting for 1.075 - 1.080.

A couple of thoughts: I think I will check my crush and maybe have it done somewhere else next time. It looked fine for the most part but there was not much flour (maybe 5%). I also think I will try for a little higher water volume for the initial mash or add some boiling water at the end of the mash so that my first running volume is up closer to 6.5 gallons. I also thought I might try to strike with a higher temp sparge water and let sit for 10-15 minutes before draining.

Any suggestions?

You're right on trying a better crush and higher sparge temp. The 2 sparge @ half size is a good way to do your sparge. Maybe consider a barley crusher and some 5.2 pH stabilizer. Both helped my efficincy (plus the higher sparge temp of 185)

I was think about this too. When we sparged, we drained all of the first runnings, and then added 170 degree water.

This lowered the overall temp to around 145 degrees.

I wonder if a mash out would be better (not sure if I'm using this term properly). In other words, add a couple of gallons of boiling water to the mash after the 60 minutes is up in order to bring the mash temp up to 170.

Then maybe rest there for a certain period of time before sparging??

Mash outs work well, and a hot sparge is pretty effective too. The trick is to get the mash hotter so that the sugars are less viscous. The mash out will warm it up from the mash temperature, and the hot sparge keeps things flowing. There are limits of how hot to go, since adding boiling water could possibly warp your MLT plus there is possibility for tannin extraction if it's too hot.

There's been lots of discussion about stirring, how long to wait after stirring before sparging, etc. The wiki gives some good info, plus Bobby_M, BierMuncher, and others have some good insights about sparging techniques. I'd suggest checking out some of their threads since they were helpful for me when I was starting out.

What is the best strike temp for the hot sparge (batch version)??

If I'm at 153, I imagine I would need to use water up near 185 in order to sparge at 170. Is there a temp that is too high, where I am risking something?

185-190 is what I use, to get my grain bed to 168-172, If you go much higher you rick the extraction of tannins from the grain..

Yep, I'm all for the hotter sparge. The idea is to get your grain bed up to around 170F, not your sparge water. The amount or temperature depend on the size of your mash and the temperature of the final rest.


TL