Why you should never get lazy

I have a tendency to over simplify things. At least that is my excuse for being lazy

Over my last, I dunno, 20 beers or so, I have used between 10-12 lbs of grain and instead of calculating my exact mash thickness, I always just went with 3.5 gallons. That put me between 1.2 and 1.4 quarts per pound of grain. Well, I decided that I had too much high alc beer laying around and wanted to brew something a little more 'drinkable'. This batch of beer had only an eight pound grain bill. Well, in my infinite wisdom, I didn't really think about it and just went through the motions and added my grain to 3.5 gallons of water. Which comes out to 1.75 quarts per pound. Woops. By the time I realized it I was already mashing.

And that, boys and girls is why you should never get lazy.

Didn't really matter though. I still ended up with 74% efficiency and she is bubbling away as we speak.

its hard not too be lazy when you have a computer program doing all the calculations for you

hm, yeah, I can't fathom doing a from-scratch recipe without something like ProMash. Glad it worked out for you, but...lazy or no, you'll be sorry when you screw up a batch because you didn't sufficiently plan ahead.

I've never really used a program. I use Qbrew to calculate my gravities and IBU's but other than that, there is no need for anything else. Calculating mash thickness is very easy if you actually do it.

My point was that when you use something like ProMash, you tend to have a better handle on the global situation---like a checklist of sorts---and you tend to miss stuff less often. I'm not saying you need ProMash to calculate your mash thickness, but since it's part of your mash design process, you would be forced to acknowledge it and thus make sure you've remembered to figure it out.

Regardful of your opinion there EVAN!, It can be calculated by hand.

I am sure, however, that the program pays for itself thousands of times over.

I myself have only done BYO AG recipes thus far, and the amounts are provided.

cheezydemon said:

Regardful of your opinion there EVAN!, It can be calculated by hand.

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Pretty much everything can be calculated by hand, but if i were doing that, I'd also like to have myself a global checklist of stuff to deal with prior to brewing. But it doesn't take an especially lazy person to want to drop all of $20 on a program to save the time and effort. Given that the OP claims to be exceptionally lazy, I'm guessing a brewing program might be a perfect fit.

I think I have read recently that the grain is fully wetted with 1qt per lb and every thing else is just adding volume. Dont take my word for it though.

killian said:

I think I have read recently that the grain is fully wetted with 1qt per lb and every thing else is just adding volume. Dont take my word for it though.

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You may be fully wetted, but that doesn't mean that there isn't a difference. Thicker mashes tend to result in a less-fermentable wort, thinner mashes in a more-fermentable wort, all thinks being equal. So, you might end up with a slightly thinner beer than you planned on (the impact is less severe than had you mashed at a lower temperature, however).

1.7 qts/lb is thin, but I have heard of some mashes being closer to 2.0 qts/pound. IIRC, some decocted mashes are closer to the 2.0 ratio (I'll have to check in with Kaiser or one of the other decoction experts to confirm that, however).

Evan! said:

My point was that when you use something like ProMash, you tend to have a better handle on the global situation---like a checklist of sorts---and you tend to miss stuff less often. I'm not saying you need ProMash to calculate your mash thickness, but since it's part of your mash design process, you would be forced to acknowledge it and thus make sure you've remembered to figure it out.

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Good point. I see what you are saying now. I think I misunderstood your original post.

And FWIW, I am not exceptionally lazy. I just like to poke fun at myself when I do something stupid.

the_bird said:

1.7 qts/lb is thin, but I have heard of some mashes being closer to 2.0 qts/pound. IIRC, some decocted mashes are closer to the 2.0 ratio (I'll have to check in with Kaiser or one of the other decoction experts to confirm that, however).

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Yeah, I am not overly worried about it. I am sure the beer will be fine, and who knows, maybe it will even be great. Like I said in my previous post though, I just like to take a little stab at myself when I do something dumb.