Hey dtwhite, beginner here that is also hooked on The Smoke. I am a bit confused on how much water to add; 4.5g, then another 4.5g, then 4 gallons to sparge? Or do you only sparge until it runs clear? And 185° for sparge temp, is that too hot if I am using an igloo cooler? Thanks.
Yeah, sorry that's a bit confusing. What I did was take 4.5 gallons and mash in at 148, then raise the temperature of that volume of water to 168, drain it, then sparge with 4 gallons. Total water volume of 8.5 gallons minus however much was absorbed by the grain.
185 is fine for sparging, it really doesn't matter too much.
Keep in mind the fact that I took down the ABV of this drink. If you want to take it from the ~5.25% I got up to the 6.5% of the actual beer, you will need to add more 2-row. I'd plug it into a calculator to get your volumes right. I could help you with a recipe if you know your normal efficiency.