Mashing Questions

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whirlybirds

whirlybirds

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Today I decided to do my first all grain beer. I will be doing a recipe I found on this site made by mysticmead (https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f65/raging-red-irish-red-ale-239188/index4.html) What I'm trying to figure out is how much water and at what temperature do I need to use to mash? Is there a rule of thumb that tells you how much water to use per amount of grains you use? Another question I have is how hot do I need to get my sparge water to mash out? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
In general, 1-2 qt/lb of grain is used for mashing. I was having efficiency problems so I upped my mash to 1.5 qt/lb from 1.25 qt/lb and drained my runnings slower. For figuring your strike temp (temp after adding grain to water) use the formula:

St = (0.2/r)(T2-T1) + T2

Where: St = strike temp
r = water to grain ratio
T2 = desired mash temp
T1 = temp of grain prior to adding it to the water

The formula has been almost exactly dead on since I've started using it to figure out my strike temp. Your sparge water should be great than 170 F to stop the conversion process. I generally don't worry about the exact temp of my sparge water since if it's not over 170 F it will help to convert any unconverted starches that slipped through during the mash.
 
nukebrewer said:
In general, 1-2 qt/lb of grain is used for mashing. I was having efficiency problems so I upped my mash to 1.5 qt/lb from 1.25 qt/lb and drained my runnings slower. For figuring your strike temp (temp after adding grain to water) use the formula:

St = (0.2/r)(T2-T1) + T2

Where: St = strike temp
r = water to grain ratio
T2 = desired mash temp
T1 = temp of grain prior to adding it to the water

The formula has been almost exactly dead on since I've started using it to figure out my strike temp. Your sparge water should be great than 170 F to stop the conversion process. I generally don't worry about the exact temp of my sparge water since if it's not over 170 F it will help to convert any unconverted starches that slipped through during the mash.
Click to expand...

I'm sure you mistyped that second part. The grain bed should not reach greater than 170 F, your sparge water will probably be higher depending on what sparge method you're using .
 
logdrum said:
I'm sure you mistyped that second part. The grain bed should not reach greater than 170 F, your sparge water will probably be higher depending on what sparge method you're using .
Click to expand...

I may be misinformed, but I did not mistype. As far I know you have to get it above 170 F to stop conversion.

@whirlybirds: The selection of water to grain ratio is fairly arbitrary. Some people say thicker is better, some say thinner is better. My philosophy when I started AG was to go with the crowd, so I used 1.25 qt/lb. Since then I have found that I get better efficiency with 1.5 qt/lb with my particular setup. So my recommendation to you is to start with 1.25 qt/lb and see how it works. Then you can adjust as necessary to optimize your efficiency.
 
Terribly sorry, whirlybirds, but I did mistype on something else. The strike temp is the water temp before adding grain to water, not after. Sorry for the confusion.
 
Strike temp also depends on what you mash in. You'll go for a different temp in a cooler mash tun than one that is direct fired/heated.

For the sparge you want to get the grain bed into the 168-172F range, no higher. How you get there, again, depends on the technique you use.
 

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