Simple mash volume question

[quickerNu]

I am using my digiboil with mash pipe for the first time today. There are 2 gallons of dead space before I even get to the false bottom of the mash pipe. I assume I need to add 2 gallons to my strike water volume? I am using a pump to recirculate.

 

[bjhbrew]

If you’ll be doing a sparge than yes, add on the extra 2 gallons to your strike water and subtract it from your sparge otherwise it’ll throw off your mash thickness. If you do a full volume mash without sparge than don’t add any extra water as I assume the volume below the false bottom is all recovered after the mash.

 

[quickerNu]

Yes, that makes sense, Is there is any impact of having an effective mash of 3.5 but, with recirculating, an actual mash volume of 5.5 gallons? (ie, lower efficiency from thin mash)?

I originally bought the digiboil just for an HLT, but trying it out to do everything with. I preheated sparge water with it and have that waiting in my usual cooler mash tun right now.

 

[bjhbrew]

I’m not sure I fully understand the question. You’ll get a lower efficiency if you mash with all the water at once (no Sparge). Otherwise, yeah mashing full volume is a quick and easy way to go.

 

[quickerNu]

Sorry, I am sparging. I was trying to articulate if having 5.5 gallons of strike water (3.5+ 2 for dead space) would have a negative impact on efficiency, like a thin mash.
It didn't, I had a ton of grain absorption and needed to sparge with 4 gallons to get to my target volume.

 

[doug293cz]

If you’ll be doing a sparge than yes, add on the extra 2 gallons to your strike water and subtract it from your sparge otherwise it’ll throw off your mash thickness. If you do a full volume mash without sparge than don’t add any extra water as I assume the volume below the false bottom is all recovered after the mash.

Forget about trying to hit a specific mash thickness. There is no benefit to any specific thickness. You need to mash with enough water to keep the grain bed covered during the mash, and the mixture thin enough to stir. If fly sparging, mashing with minimal water (that meets the requirements in the previous sentence), and maximizing sparge volume will give you maximum efficiency. If batch sparging, you want to get close to equal volumes for each of the run-offs to maximize efficiency, but anywhere from 60:40 to 40:60 ratio has nearly the same efficiency. A simple rule of thumb for batch sparging is 60% of total water for mash, and 40% for sparge.

Brew on