First All-Grain Brew Soon.

I will be finishing my all-grain system(2 10gal Coolers and a Keg) within the week and will be brewing next weekend. Any water calculators around? I plan on 1.33 qt/lb and everyone tells me to go over on my calculations due to water loss, but I am not sure how much. Any help would be appreciated.

A rough estimate of how much water is absorbed by your grain is about 0.1gal/lb. How much is lost to your sytem (ie irretrievable water in fittings, under strainer etc) is system specific and you need to measure carefullly your water usage the first few time you brew to determine that. How you are going to sparge will also determine how much water you use. You could download a trial version of promash as it will calculate volumes for you if you fly sparge.

Cool thanks. I will keep an eye on it. What is a good efficiency to aim for? Since this is my first I am not expecting much.

http://www.krotchrott.com/calc.html is a good resource too.

I made my first AG recipe work for anywhere from 60% up. I say up because if you finish the mash, take a reading, and it is way high you can dilute it (or not). I hit 68% so I was dead in line with the style guidelines for the beer I was making.

Another quick question. Should I get a false bottom for my MT or use the Bazooka screen I have? Would it matter?