How much grain is left over after sparging?

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TheCookieMonster

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Hi!

If I have 10lbs of grain, add it the mash tun with water, batch sparge etc,

After the wort has been drained out, how much volume does the 10lbs of grain consume of the cooler.

1 gallon? 2 gallon?

Thanks!
 
Hi!

If I have 10lbs of grain, add it the mash tun with water, batch sparge etc,

After the wort has been drained out, how much volume does the 10lbs of grain consume of the cooler.

1 gallon? 2 gallon?

Thanks!

Are you asking how much water the grain absorbs?

If that is your question, I find that the grain absorbs 0.5qts per Lb. of grain.
So for 10lbs it would retain about 1.25 gallons of water.
 
Are you asking how much water the grain absorbs?

If that is your question, I find that the grain absorbs 0.5qts per Lb. of grain.
So for 10lbs it would retain about 1.25 gallons of water.

Wow thanks!

Now does the grain just absorb and replace water, or does it expand to twice its size like rice?

Basically If I added 10 gallons to a cooler, and then put grain on top, would the cooler stay at 10 gallons? You know what I mean?

Or is it going to be 11.25 total displacement inside the tun?
 
Grain does have some displacement but it's less than you'd think by looking at a bucket full of grain and a mash tun full of water. I agree that if it's a concern of how much total mash you can fit, the "can I mash it" calculator is the way to check. The grain also holds on to about a pint per pound of liquid when you drain out.
 
I believe that the wet, spent grains are slightly larger when I dump them than when they went into the mash tun as dry milled grain. And for 10#, I stand by my wild ass guess of 2 gallons. I just did 2 batches this weekend of about that much grain.
 
Grain does have some displacement but it's less than you'd think by looking at a bucket full of grain and a mash tun full of water. I agree that if it's a concern of how much total mash you can fit, the "can I mash it" calculator is the way to check. The grain also holds on to about a pint per pound of liquid when you drain out.

Thanks!! :rockin:
 
One pound of grain added to 1 qt water takes up 1.32 qt in volume (according to Promash).
So the wet grain comes in at 1.32 qt / lb. That's 3.2 qt or 6.4 pints for 10 lb grain; add 10 pints for the water absorbed by the grain, and you have 16.4 pints or a tad over 2 gallons which makes passedpawn's wild ass guess sound pretty good.

-a.
 
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