Anyone else not a fan of 2qt/lb?

[bob1852]

so then Pol, that would equate to the only advantage of a thinner mash in your opinion is less sparge water?

thx

 

[Drummin101]

i did about 1.50 today for a IIPA and everything turned out exactly as planned. I think (at least for this style) I am going to continue using this ratio.

 

[The Pol]

so then Pol, that would equate to the only advantage of a thinner mash in your opinion is less sparge water?

thx

Absolutely not!! I wrote a great article about this on Brewers Friend, check it out. The benefit is better conversion eff. Just because the FG doenst change, doesnt mean that your eff. isnt better. You can have the same FG with 65% as you do with 85% eff. you are just using less grain.

I also would not call LESS sparge water, a benefit. There is a point in everyones system, and it will differ, where the increase in mash water (to obtain better conversion eff.) will then steal too much water from the sparge, this reducing the lauter eff. The combination of these two make up your eff. so you want to maximize both, without hurting one or the other, there is a balance.

 

[chefmike]

There is a point in everyones system, and it will differ, where the increase in mash water (to obtain better conversion eff.) will then steal too much water from the sparge, this reducing the lauter eff. The combination of these two make up your eff. so you want to maximize both, without hurting one or the other, there is a balance.

Well put, Pol!

That is exactly what I have experienced, though I was too slow to put words to it! It is amazing how little tweaks can make great differences in a system... and we all use slightly different systems.

 

[The Pol]

Well put, Pol!

That is exactly what I have experienced, though I was too slow to put words to it! It is amazing how little tweaks can make great differences in a system... and we all use slightly different systems.

Bingo... people like to put down blanket "rules", but you cant. Each system is different. My optimum may be 2qt/lb for the mash, yours may be 1.75qt.lb because you NEED more of the water to obtain good lauter eff.

Like I said, using info from a thread that I started and Kai contributed to, I wrote a simple summary of how to experiment and look at mash and lauter eff. and ways to tweak them using thinner mashes. It is over at Brewers Friend, easy read.

Since I began contributing content over there, I have learned A LOT, and I have been AG brewing for 4 years, there is so much to learn.

 

[pjj2ba]

Actually I believe Kaiser likes to do 2 qts/lb, at least for lagers. When I do lagers, I typically do a protein rest and start out around 1.3:1. As I ramp up to my saccharification temp, I add more water to thin the mash to around 2:1

 

[bob1852]

thx Pol - it makes sense now that I've re-read everything. I'm not convinced that my conversion efficiency is as high as it could be - I'm gonna bump my mash ratio up a little and see if it helps.

 

[rico567]

Speaking as someone new to AG brewing, I elected to go with a pretty thin mash (1.75 qt. / lb. for my first batch, brewed yesterday. I seriously flubbed my strike temperatures, first achieving 160F, then adding ice and ending up at 148F, and finally getting about where I wanted to be. By the time I was finished, I expect I had mashed at 2.0 qt one way or the other. After an hour, I was very concerned from my refractometer readings that I was getting lousy conversion. However, the boil ended up starting at 6.5 gal and ending about on the money at 5.5, and the primary is now bubbling furiously. From the graph that "Kaiserbrew" put up -somewhere- with my single sparge I achieved an efficiency well up in the 80's. This is from an OG of 1.051, which hits MW's spec for their kit (Amarillo Ale) right on the money. That'll sure do me. As for how it affects the taste of the beer......wait & see, but it sure smell scrumptious at the top of that airlock.

 

[The Pol]

thx Pol - it makes sense now that I've re-read everything. I'm not convinced that my conversion efficiency is as high as it could be - I'm gonna bump my mash ratio up a little and see if it helps.

Kai has a chart on here somewhere that will help you determine your conversion eff. by meausuring your first wort gravity....

 

[bob1852]

Kai has a chart on here somewhere that will help you determine your conversion eff. by meausuring your first wort gravity....

yeah, I have that saved on my desktop somewhere. Kai and I have had some dialogues in other threads that leave me to believe my lauter eff is fine, and that I may be a little weaker than desired in the conversion eff.

 

[bob1852]

is there an echo in here?