How much water?

I'm getting ready to brew my first AG batch (Anderson Valley Winter Solstice clone). I'm trying to figure how much total water will be required. The grain bill is 15 pounds, brewing a 5 gal batch, 60 min boil. I know the grain will absorb approximately 4.9 gallons, based on 1.3 quarts per pound. I'm going to batch sparge, using a Coleman cooler converted to mash tun. I'm a bit foggy on how much additional water above and beyond the 4.9 gal the grain will absorb. Thanks in advance.

Cheers,
Terry

AlkiBrewing said:

I'm getting ready to brew my first AG batch (Anderson Valley Winter Solstice clone). I'm trying to figure how much total water will be required. The grain bill is 15 pounds, brewing a 5 gal batch, 60 min boil. I know the grain will absorb approximately 4.9 gallons, based on 1.3 quarts per pound. I'm going to batch sparge, using a Coleman cooler converted to mash tun. I'm a bit foggy on how much additional water above and beyond the 4.9 gal the grain will absorb. Thanks in advance.

Cheers,
Terry

Click to expand...

You will NOT absorb 4.9 gallons in the mash!

You should absorb about .125 gallons per pound of grain- and use about 1.25-1.5 quarts of water per pound of grain in the mash.

Since you've got 15 pounds of grain, here's a good way to do this:

Mash in with 20 quarts of water (1.33 quarts per pound of grain). Stir well, and check temperature. Have some boiling water handy, and some ice cubes, in case you miss your temperature, but if you're within a couple of degrees, don't worry.

When the mash is over, you should get out about 3-3.2 gallons of first runnings. Measure them to make sure. Then use 3 to 3.5 gallons of sparge water to get to your boil volume, assuming you will be starting with 6.5 gallons of wort.

Yopper, thanks for the info I appreciate it. I'll be brewing with your numbers tomorrow.