Another New AG Guy with some questions

I know you guys get a lot of "it's my first attempt at AG how does this sound?" questions.

Well, I'm no diffrrent. I plan on doing AG since I have been reading on it for sometime. I have a 10 gal polarwar(from my extract boils) w/ spigot and plan on intalling a thermometer for my HLT. I have a 10 gal powerade cooler that I plan on installing a spigot and stainless screen from the outside of water hose. I have just aquired a keg that I plan on cutting the top off of, also installing a spigot and something for hops for the boil kettle.

I want to do step mashing eventually but will probably just do single to start with and do a batch sparge. Am I correct that if I do a single step mash I need to get the temperature of the mash around 152ish and let set for ~60 minutes. Then if I am going to do a batch sparge I just add the rest of my water to get final volume, pour in and stir let sit ~10 minutes, clear runoff and drain.

My hangups are how can I figure what temperature the water additions to the mash need to be based on my grain bill, is that what the brewing software can tell me? Can ProMash help me figure all this out as far as volumes and whatnot? Can I do step mashes with this setup by just adding a higher temperature water?

Thanks in advance, I just want to do it right.

nomad said:

I want to do step mashing eventually but will probably just do single to start with and do a batch sparge. Am I correct that if I do a single step mash I need to get the temperature of the mash around 152ish and let set for ~60 minutes.

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Yes...most single infusions will be at 150-152 for 60-90 minutes. A lower temp yields a more fermentable wort and lower FG, a higher temp yields a less fermentable wort and higher FG.

Then if I am going to do a batch sparge I just add the rest of my water to get final volume, pour in and stir let sit ~10 minutes, clear runoff and drain.

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The usual batch sparging method is to emply two batches, each producing about 3.5 gallons of wort.

My hangups are how can I figure what temperature the water additions to the mash need to be based on my grain bill, is that what the brewing software can tell me? Can ProMash help me figure all this out as far as volumes and whatnot? Can I do step mashes with this setup by just adding a higher temperature water?

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Promash or Beersmith have utilities for those calculations. I'm cheap and I find this free site very useful:

http://www.rackers.org/calcs.shtml

The math is pretty darn simple, and it'll be like second nature after a few batches. Keep in mind that you wont get as much liquid out of the mashtun as you put in: some will be absorbed by the grain and you wont get every last drop out. I usually figure .1 gallons of loss per lb of grain. Your actual figure may be different but it will be close to that. A good basic mash thickness is about 1.25 quarts of strike water per lb of grain. If you are doing step infusions (meaning you'll be adding more water), start with more like 1 qt per lb of grain.