Hello everyone. I started reading this thread back in November and have made it through the whole thing. Lots of great info in it. Not that I was able to retain much of it...
I'm sure I read about what I'm about to ask but after reading over 600 pages I hope you fellows won't mind. I ordered a few carboys and grains, hops, yeast, etc. from Northern Brewer with a couple recipes in mind.
Both recipes have a 2# grain bill. I am going to mash with 1.5 quarts to a pound, which would be three quarts. Then sparge with enough water to give enough volume for one gallon in fermenter plus my boil off (haven't calculated this yet). Does this seem right?
Also, I have not been able to grasp how to figure efficiency. So right now I'm just going to get to brewing. But when I do figure it out I want to have the information needed, even with these first sessions. The way I understand it is I need to take three gravity readings. Pre sparge, pre boil, and post boil. Is this correct?
Thanks to everyone for the wealth of information here.