Didn't think ahead -- New recipe might be beyond my capacity

So I have 13.5 pounds of grain for my IPA. At 1.25 quarts per pound that puts me at roughly 4 1/4 gallons for my strike water.

Unfortunately, my mash tun holds only 5 gallons.

How do I resolve this? I was thinking I could do a thick mash and triple batch sparge, or split the grist in half and mash twice.

Which of these ideas is better? Other ideas? How badly would this hurt my efficiency?

You could use your boil kettle as a second mash tun and do a steeping style mash with a big grain bag. Or scale down your recipe to half the size and save the rest for a few weeks later and you can tweak the recipe if it wasn't great the first time...

You could use your boil kettle as a second mash tun and do a steeping style mash with a big grain bag.

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I do own a massive nylon grain bag. That could work... but filtering out the grist would be a challenge... 6-7 pounds of grain saturated with water can't just be held over a collecting vessel until it stops dripping.

bernerbrau said:

I do own a massive nylon grain bag. That could work... but filtering out the grist would be a challenge... 6-7 pounds of grain saturated with water can't just be held over a collecting vessel until it stops dripping.

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I beg to differ . I do all of my brews full AG like this, up to 10 lbs. It's not ideal but it works. Filtering isn't an issue if you have a good cold break.

I'm just thinking that would REALLY kill my back. I did a partial that way with only 4 pounds grain and that was heavy enough -- the grain bag kept slipping and falling into the wort, splashing everywhere, and I got NO gravity from the mash.

Yea it can get heavy, just giving ya the option. I guess depending how big your bag is you can tie it to something and let it hang/drip dry. As for efficiency I can get 70%+ but I think other issues are holding me back in addition. Either way, good luck and have a good brew day!

I think I'm gonna go with a thick mash and see what happens. Or split the batch into two 3-gallon ones. I still can't decide!

Either way I will need a longer spoon though now that I think about it...

Use a 1.15 qt/lb grist ratio and you'll just be able to fit it in your mash tun.

Green Bay Rackers - Mash Calculators

Well looks like you're into brewing....so any chance of holding off brew day til tomorrow so that you can run out and get a big cooler (and fittings) for your mash tun? 10 gallons or more is more versatile for all styles of beer. Just raising that suggestion since it's the simplest: but not very good for those who want to brew right now!

bernerbrau said:

I think I'm gonna go with a thick mash and see what happens. Or split the batch into two 3-gallon ones. I still can't decide!

Either way I will need a longer spoon though now that I think about it...

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I've squeezed 14 pounds into a 5 gallon cooler on occasion...with a thick mash, then sparging til you get your desired boil volume, you will be fine.

I've done 13# in a 5g cooler with a 1 qt / lb ratio and still had a bit of space left.
I never tried batch sparging with a MLT that full however.

-a.

I've done 15 pounds in a porridge like mash and the beer turned out to be one of the best I've ever tasted. Like Revvy said, I just fly sparged until I collected 9.5 gallons of wort and boiled for 95 minutes. Hit 83% eff and 9.9% alcohol.

I did go out and purchase a 10 G cooler the following day though. I haven't done that big a beer since I got the bigger cooler.

before I got my big mash tun I had the round rubbermaid 5 gal. and 14lbs. of grain was my norm. to stuff it full I found it easyer to put in grain first,and pour the last gal slow. the air bubbles will make a mess as they break the surface. its all good. no empty head space to lose heat.

I can't fly sparge... but it seems like I can batch until I get my target volume. Thanks guys!

Howd it go Brownie? You go with the 1.15qts/lb or...?

bernerbrau said:

I can't fly sparge... but it seems like I can batch until I get my target volume. Thanks guys!

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I fly sparged by using a 1 quart saucepan and pouring it one pot at a time over a piece of aluminum foil lying on top of the wort. I opened the valve a little and poured to keep the level inside the tun constant. It worked very well.

This is why fly sparging was invented.

Before I got the 48 qt IceCube, I'd just PM and add extract.

bernerbrau said:

I can't fly sparge... but it seems like I can batch until I get my target volume. Thanks guys!

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I don't fly I just batch until I get my volume...

So how did it go with a thick mash? I use an Ice cube for 5 gallon batches. I would be hard pressed to fill that sucker.
Could you stir and get a good efficiency?

Haven't done the batch yet, since I spent all yesterday getting drunk at the brewfest and recovering. I had planned on getting a longer spoon for my mash tun yesterday (last batch it turned out I couldn't reach the bottom with any I currently own), but the LHBS is closed today so I'm not sure if I can get one.

In any case I am bottling today so I may or may not save the batch until next weekend.

Ok so if I'm under standing this right, your mash tun is only 5 gallons. If you have a 6 and a half gallon bottling bucket and a big ass grain bag, you can totally fit it all. When I first started all grain this is how I did it. I have been able to fit 16lbs of grain into my bucket and mash just fine, I do use a think mash though, 1qt per lb of grain and maybe one extra quart if I have room. I wrap the bucket up in towels, don't get hardly any drop in temp. Its not the best system but it works, it makes beer and its a start into AG before you buy all the stuff. Only boiling pot I had was a 7 gallon kettle, just filled up 2 pots and kept adding until I had boiled every thing down.

I would just mash twice and relax.