dry run for dead space?

Ok I am ready for the weekend and to do my first AG batch (newcastle clone).

I have a "flyguy" 10 gallon igloo mash tun build and I am going to use my bottleing bucket for my HLT...its wrapped in a low e insulation sleeve.

I did a dry run and found that I had 1.5 quarts of water left in my HLT when I drained it and 2.25 quarts of water left over in my mash tun when drained out.

Is this dead space? and how do I calculate this into my Mash/Batch sparge.
I really want to try to get this right or as close to right as possible.

Thanks in advance for any advice/knowledge.

Nevermind. Don't know what I'm talking about.

Does your mash water come directly from your HLT? If so then you would add 3.75 more quarts to compensate for the losses (i'm assuming you're also compensating for grain absorption). Then for the sparge you wouldn't need to compensate anything because all that dead space has already been filled.

Determining how much water to use is not really an exact science, more estimating. Especially if you're fly sparging. Like I will mash at 1.4 quarts/pound, collect runnings, then fly sparge until i collect enough wort to hit my target volume post-boil. If i'm batch sparging, I estimate that I'll get back 95% of the water I put in. For me, about 7.7-8 gallons is sufficient for a 90 minute boil. It's also better to overshoot than undershoot. You really don't want to add water at the end of the boil.

the leftover water in your HLT can you just pour it out into your MLT?

kryolla said:

the leftover water in your HLT can you just pour it out into your MLT?

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+1. It's just a bucket. Should be light enough to pick up