partial mash, mash water volume

The recipe kits i get from northernbrewer tell me to mash with a specific volume like 1.5gallons, then sparge with like 3quarts, then top off to boil volume when done mashing.

I feel as though it would b much easier to hold a steady temperature with more mash water volume, and as long as i still reach the same boil volume..
Does it really matter what my water volume is for mashing?

nthammer said:

The recipe kits i get from northernbrewer tell me to mash with a specific volume like 1.5gallons, then sparge with like 3quarts, then top off to boil volume when done mashing.

I feel as though it would b much easier to hold a steady temperature with more mash water volume, and as long as i still reach the same boil volume..
Does it really matter what my water volume is for mashing?

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Yes, basically 1.25-1.5 qts/lb for mashing is the rule and it has to do with conversion and mash efficiency. If you mash with too much water you will wind up with an extremely thin beer.

Sparging is the rinsing of the residual sugars from the grain and a necessary step.

Some people brew no sparge but efficiency drops so the grain bill needs to be increased to account for that.

Thanks for your reply, i will probably just buy the cooler that i would use for all grain and use that to mash until i make the other purchases for getting into all grain, because mashing in my boil kettle, even with insulation, isnt holding temperature.

nthammer said:

Thanks for your reply, i will probably just buy the cooler that i would use for all grain and use that to mash until i make the other purchases for getting into all grain, because mashing in my boil kettle, even with insulation, isnt holding temperature.

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You can certainly mash in the kettle for the small amount of grain assuming you can fit the volume of water and grain, you simply need to keep the burner on to maintain the temperature as well as keeping the lid on.

If you are using a typical 5 gallon cooler to mash in and have less than half the volume full you may also lose temperature to some degree. One thing you can do if you go this route is to pre-heat the tun with hot water first and that will help.