Worst day of brewing...EVER

I was brewing a snowcap clone that calls for a total of 36 pounds of grain. I use converted kegs so that is about the limit for grain. I also used Brew 365 mash sparge calculator to figure temperature drop when adding grain to mash. The calculator suggests 1.33 qrts. of water per pound of grain. I thought that was too much water (I have always used 1 qrt. water per pound of grain). But I thought maybe I should try something different, so I used 1.25 qrts per pound. WAY TOO MUCH WATER!!! Not only did My mash tun almost over flow, allot of grain got under my false bottom and clogged the pick up tube. First time that has ever happened. I had to use the compressor to get it clear. Not a good day. I also brewed an IPA using 1 qrt to 1 pound of grain and had no problems. What a day!

A lot of those calculators tell you how many "gallons" your mash(grains + water) will take up, so you don't overflow. Glad to hear your 2nd brew went well though.

How close did you come to your O.G. for the Snowcap Clone? If it's within 10 points, it's all good Brudda!!!

O.G. for the Snow cap clone was 1.065 and I was looking for 1.070. Close. I didn't get a before boil reading so I don't know what the mash efficiency was. I had a lot of grain and sticky malt to clean up. Every time I blow air back through the pickup tube grain would come flying out of the mash tun.