I was hoping someone could explain in more depth why at a thinner mash with water to grist ratio say 2.0 qt/lb you may notice a higher efficiency but at a thicker mash at 1.25qt/lb your efficiency drops but you get a more fermentable wort.
I was hoping someone could explain in more depth why at a thinner mash with water to grist ratio say 2.0 qt/lb you may notice a higher efficiency but at a thicker mash at 1.25qt/lb your efficiency drops but you get a more fermentable wort.
I have always mashed at approx. 2 quarts per pound or a little higher, but always wondered why the conventional wisdom (e.g. BeerSmith) uses a lower 1.25 - 1.5 quarts per pound. I never noticed any adverse effects from using more strike/mash water. If, indeed, more water = greater mash efficiency, I really wonder why people consistently use a lower ratio.
Thanks Gavin. I may start going full volume mash as well and just add 10% more grain to the recipe to compensate. It will definitely cut the brew day down a bit by eliminating sparging altogether. Now what do I do with my HLT? Maybe I can convert it back to an Igloo water cooler my removing the hardware and putting the original cheap plastic tap back on it. Wow, what a great idea; a water cooler/dispenser!
For every gallon of mash water used, that's one less gallon available to sparge with. So if you can use less mash water, and mash for a little longer to get the same conversion as a thin mash would, then you'll end up with better efficiency because you have more water to sparge with.I have always mashed at approx. 2 quarts per pound or a little higher, but always wondered why the conventional wisdom (e.g. BeerSmith) uses a lower 1.25 - 1.5 quarts per pound. I never noticed any adverse effects from using more strike/mash water. If, indeed, more water = greater mash efficiency, I really wonder why people consistently use a lower ratio.
For every gallon of mash water used, that's one less gallon available to sparge with. So if you can use less mash water, and mash for a little longer to get the same conversion as a thin mash would, then you'll end up with better efficiency because you have more water to sparge with.
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