AndrewD
Well-Known Member
So, getting back into brewing and told myself I would not do extract brews anymore, and that I would start kegging. So, several hundred dollars later, my setup is this:
Mash:
10 Gallon Rubbermaid with SS Braid
Boil:
Blichmann Floor burner on 24-inch rims (leg extensions)
30qt Boil Pot (No valve)
Primary:
6 Gallon Better Bottle w/ Racking adapter
Secondary:
Corny Keg
I'm brewing a NB Scottish 60 kit to start easy, and I'm using a BeerSmith trial for added fun. This kit has 6 pounds of malt. BeerSmith defaults to 1.25 qts/lb for mash water, which gives me a paltry 7.5 qts. I'm concerned about having such a small volume in the 10 gallon cooler.
Should I up my ratio to 2 qts/lb, giving me 3 gallons of mash water? If so, is there still going to be an issue with such a small mash in the 10 gallon cooler?
As far as the sparge, I think I am doing a batch sparge. The NB instructions call for a 60 minute sacch rest at 154, then a 10 minute mashout at 170. So what I think I should do is conduct the 60 minute mash with whichever water ratio I settle on and lauter, then add an appropriate amount of sparge water, let it sit at 170 for 10 minutes, then sparge into my boil pot with the lauter wort. BeerSmith has me adding a mere 4.2 qts of 207 degree (!) water, yet this is based on a supposed ratio of 1.95 qts/lb, which doesn't make sense to me. I think dialing in and getting used to BeerSmith is something I can do over the course of several brews, so I'm not too worried about technical help there.
My main questions are:
What is an appropriate quantity and temperature of mash water for this small batch in a 10 gallon cooler?
What is an appropriate quantity and temperature of sparge water?
Does the 10 minute mashout at 170 degrees in the instructions mean to raise the temperature of the mash to 170 and hold it for 10 minutes before sparging?
Also, I will be starting with a sub-5 gallon quantity of wort, so I imagine I should top up to boil volume with more water. Should I add cold water, boiling water, or equal temperature water to top it off?
Mash:
10 Gallon Rubbermaid with SS Braid
Boil:
Blichmann Floor burner on 24-inch rims (leg extensions)
30qt Boil Pot (No valve)
Primary:
6 Gallon Better Bottle w/ Racking adapter
Secondary:
Corny Keg
I'm brewing a NB Scottish 60 kit to start easy, and I'm using a BeerSmith trial for added fun. This kit has 6 pounds of malt. BeerSmith defaults to 1.25 qts/lb for mash water, which gives me a paltry 7.5 qts. I'm concerned about having such a small volume in the 10 gallon cooler.
Should I up my ratio to 2 qts/lb, giving me 3 gallons of mash water? If so, is there still going to be an issue with such a small mash in the 10 gallon cooler?
As far as the sparge, I think I am doing a batch sparge. The NB instructions call for a 60 minute sacch rest at 154, then a 10 minute mashout at 170. So what I think I should do is conduct the 60 minute mash with whichever water ratio I settle on and lauter, then add an appropriate amount of sparge water, let it sit at 170 for 10 minutes, then sparge into my boil pot with the lauter wort. BeerSmith has me adding a mere 4.2 qts of 207 degree (!) water, yet this is based on a supposed ratio of 1.95 qts/lb, which doesn't make sense to me. I think dialing in and getting used to BeerSmith is something I can do over the course of several brews, so I'm not too worried about technical help there.
My main questions are:
What is an appropriate quantity and temperature of mash water for this small batch in a 10 gallon cooler?
What is an appropriate quantity and temperature of sparge water?
Does the 10 minute mashout at 170 degrees in the instructions mean to raise the temperature of the mash to 170 and hold it for 10 minutes before sparging?
Also, I will be starting with a sub-5 gallon quantity of wort, so I imagine I should top up to boil volume with more water. Should I add cold water, boiling water, or equal temperature water to top it off?