Partial Mash for Newbie

[Incoerenza86]

Hi,

I am a newbie (got 6 brews under my belt) and would like to beef up a kit with partial mash procedure. I got a question for you guys: my stockpot has a capacity of 6.3Litres/ 1.6 Gallons. would it be ok if i fill it with about .52 gallons?
the malts quantity i though would be approx 4.4.lbs.

Do i need to buy a bigger one or i am fine with the one I have?

thanks for your info!

 

[Jaybird]

Take the grain and dump it in the kettle totally dry and see how much space you have left for water if your concerned.

Cheers
Jay

 

[unionrdr]

That kettle is def a bit small. You mash with 1.25-1.5 quarts of water per pound of grains. Than sparge with about 1 quart per pound. for example,I mash 5-6lbs of grains in 2 gallons of water & sparge with 1.5 gallons. This gives 3.5 gallons boil volume in my 5 gallon (20quart) ss kettle.

 

[Incoerenza86]

Thanks both for replying. It wouldn`t work at all with the current capacity pot i got?

 

[unionrdr]

It might work with no more than a pound of grains.

 

[IslandLizard]

Take the grain and dump it in the kettle totally dry and see how much space you have left for water if your concerned.

Cheers
Jay

4.4 lbs of grain is the volume of about half a gallon (2 quarts). Even at 1 quart per pound (1:1) it's going to be very tight as the total volume will be 1.53 gallon, and the mash will be thick. And that does not leave you with any space to stir or move it around (to the oven) Do you have a 2nd pot to split the batch? With some dexterity and inventiveness you could make it work.

I would not mash any thicker than 1.25, ideally, and definitely not below 1:1.

Mash Calculators
It's in the 3rd section, "Can I Mash It?"

 

[Incoerenza86]

meaning that the final result can be "softer" than expected ?

 

[unionrdr]

Well,the enzymes in the base grains need a proper amount of water to convert starches to sugars. Besides mash temp & time. Then you need room for increased volume from sparging them.

 

[Incoerenza86]

Would a 2.9 Gallons pot capacity do the trick?

 

[IslandLizard]

...Then you need room for increased volume from sparging them.

Right, the grains will soak up some water/wort and swell up thus occupying more volume than the 2 quarts of dry grains.

You can sparge in 2 smaller batches.
For partial mashing I use a colander with a hop bag in the bottom as a strainer. To sparge, add the sparge water to the mash, stir like crazy, and dump it all into the strainer (with a catching pot underneath) and drain well by pressing on it. Put the grains back into the pot and sparge again. Then do the second batch.

Ideally, you should vorlauf a bit too, to prevent starch bits getting into your wort.

 

[unionrdr]

I use a 5 gallon (20qt) stainless steel stock pot. They're pretty cheap nowadays. It'll give you the minimum capacity (in my opinion) to do partial boil,partial mash brew in a bag as I do. Then you can do up to about 6 pounds of grains & have enough room for the mashed wort & sparged wort together. This will give you minimum head space for the foamy hot break right before it boils.

 

[IslandLizard]

Would a 2.9 Gallons pot capacity do the trick?

2.9 gal would be better, but is still limited. Do you have a 2.9 gal on hand?
If you're serious about brewing, and you have to buy one, look for at least a 5 gallon pot. If you want to do full boils for 5 gallon batches, you need at least an 8 gallon kettle.

How big is your boil kettle? You could do partial mashes in a bag in your boil kettle. Look up BIAB.
Or use a small cooler to mash in and drain into a colander.

 

[Incoerenza86]

Thanks guys!