All grain water questions

[Bigfish713]

I have a grain bill for a Imperial stout of around 25 pounds of grain
How much water should I mash with and how much to batch sparge with

 

[theowlman16]

The simple answer is enough to cover the grain. Or you can use an online(or app) calculator. 1.25 quarts of H2O per lb of grain is common.

 

[Bigfish713]

Thanks

 

[Omahawk]

When you're doing your calcs for the sparge, remember that you'll lose about 1 gallon of your mash per 8 lbs of grain. That's approximately 3 gallons of water you'll lose in this particular mash.

So, if you start with 7 gallons of mash water, you'll only get about 4 gallons out of the mash. Adjust your sparge volume accordingly.

 

[doug293cz]

With a 25 lb grain bill for a 5.5 gal batch (to fermenter) you will be lucky to hit 65% mash efficiency, and the best you can expect for OG is about 1.109. So, plan accordingly. To maximize lauter efficiency you want to use 6.5 gal of strike water, and 3.5 gal of sparge water. That's for a 90 minute boil, with 1.5 gal boil off, and about a 1 qt/lb mash thickness. If you want to use a 1.25 qt/lb mash thickness, then mash in with 7.8 gal, and sparge with 2.2 gal. In this case your lauter efficiency will drop by about 1%, but the thinner mash may improve your conversion efficiency, and thus your mash efficiency.

Brew on