Need Big Beer Advise: Water to Grain Ratio

[RmikeVT]

I am brewing a 1.100 ish all grain Imperial Stout, tomorrow. I have read to mash thick, 1qt/gal, leaving more sparge water to increase efficiency and I have also read to mash thin, 1.5qt/gal, to increase mash extraction to increase efficiency. Assume kettle and mashtun size aren't an issue, what do some of you big beer brewers recommend?

 

[RmikeVT]

Probably going to go with my standard 1.25qts/gal

 

[clickondan]

If you fly sparge, my advice may not be applicable, since I batch sparge. But if it were me, I'd also do 1.25, because...
1. with a big beer I'd double batch sparge and that would leave me just enough to do that and
2. lower than 1.25 would just make my mash pH more touchy with a dark beer.

 

[Ravenshead]

I think you'll find that mash ratios and sparge volumes won't make much of a difference. Maybe a point of two here and there at best. Instead, just assume you'll lose 5-10 points of efficiency and plan your recipe from there.

 

[BlueHouseBrewhaus]

+1 for Ravenshead. Figure your grain bill assuming reduced efficiency. Whatever water/grain ratio you use, you should probably do a bigger sparge. I don't think you will find much difference between mashing at 1 qt/lb vs 1.25. You may also want to check your SG once you reach your finished boil time before you cool. You may find you need to add time to your boil to hit your OG.

 

[RmikeVT]

Thanks for the replies. This was helpful. I am batch sparging so I will probably do 2 sparges and keep my ration around 1.25 and I dropped my effeciency to 75% from 80%. I am also planning the beer around 1.100 and if I end up around 1.090+, I'll be happy. So, I should be in good shape. I will definitely be using some water additions to keep my pH in line with the dark malt. I have soft water, so additions help out.

 

[BlueHouseBrewhaus]

Check out Bru'nWater to figure your mash pH. It will tell you what you need. I have soft water, too, and usually use some pickling lime in the mash to keep my pH in range. Works like a charm. Just be sure to add it after dough-in.

 

[Talgrath]

What Ravenshead said. I used to keep a single efficiency log for beers, now I keep seperate logs for different beers, since my big double bocks or IPAs will have much lower efficiency than my hefeweizens or saisons.

 

[LJvermonster]

I just read in IPA by Mitch Steele that, at least with IPAs, an optimum range is a 3:1 water-to-grain ratio (water = 8.33lb/gal). So if you have 15 lbs of grain x 3 = 45 lbs of water / 8.33 lb/gal = 5.4 gallons x 4 qts / gal = 21.6 qts / 15 lb grain = 1.44 qt water / lb grain.

 

[IslandLizard]

I just read in IPA by Mitch Steele that, at least with IPAs, an optimum range is a 3:1 water-to-grain ratio (water = 8.33lb/gal). So if you have 15 lbs of grain x 3 = 45 lbs of water / 8.33 lb/gal = 5.4 gallons x 4 qts / gal = 21.6 qts / 15 lb grain = 1.44 qt water / lb grain.

Beautiful! ^
Don't you wish for metric sometimes? 3:1 = 3 liters of water per kg of grain. Done!

Now for some reason when "we" refer to the water to grain ratio we usually express that in quarts/pound already.

 

[LJvermonster]

Beautiful! ^
Don't you wish for metric sometimes? 3:1 = 3 liters of water per kg of grain. Done!

Now for some reason when "we" refer to the water to grain ratio we usually express that in quarts/pound already.

Amen brother... In college, life was much simpler in metric hands down...

'Merica!!