Another Water to Grist Ratio Question

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michael.berta

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For making strong Belgian ales (1.070 and higher) do people tend to use a larger water to grist ratio and mash for longer to get a more fermentable wort? Like say as high as 2 quarts per LB of grain?

Also, I am adding corn sugar toward the end of the boil. Should I take the corn sugar into account for this calculation? I'm assuming I wouldn't but figured I'd ask.
 
You can do what ever you want. Less strike watter and you may be able to get higher efficiency due to more sparge. 2qt/lb seems high to me but I would figure out what I would do after I look at the grain bill and your MLT. If you mash low enough for long enough you may not need as much sugar to hit your FG.
 
I tend to use thinner mashes for big beers for exactly the reasons you state. Plus, a thinner mash is easier to mix which improves the removal of starches from the grain.
 
I don't adjust my mash ratio for any size beer. It's a ratio so the thickness stays consistent. If anything, you'd want to go thicker to reserve more volume for sparging in a fixed preboil volume situation. If the grain bill is large enough, and you go 2qt/lb, you COULD reach a point where you have no sparge volume left.
 
I only adjust my ratios to get convenient volumes going into the MLT. It's easier to measure out 4 gallons of water compared to 3.875, ya dig?

That may change the ratio from 1.25 qt/lb to 1.37 qt/lb or something similarly insignificant.

Jason
 
michael.berta said:
For making strong Belgian ales (1.070 and higher) do people tend to use a larger water to grist ratio and mash for longer to get a more fermentable wort? Like say as high as 2 quarts per LB of grain?

Also, I am adding corn sugar toward the end of the boil. Should I take the corn sugar into account for this calculation? I'm assuming I wouldn't but figured I'd ask.
Click to expand...


FWIW, I use 2qt./lb on nearly all my beers and with a 154F mash, get 72% attenuation generally with S-05. I have not seen a noticeable increase in attenuation.

I would though still mash relatively thin, LONG and LOW. Pitch a BIG starter and aerate well. Keep the ferment temp. up as well. I think the other variables will affect attenuation MUCH more than simply mashing thin.
 

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