Getting ready to do my 1st all grain and have a couple questions to any who wish to chime in.-(Denny?). Be gentle, this is my first time.
I am going to do a batch sparge. From my research it seems that many people will mash at a certain water/grain ratio, then calculate and add additional water after the mash (taking into account dead space and grain absorption) to get approx 50% of the total boil volume (don't know if this is a true mash out or not or if it even matters). Then do 1st running after vorlauf. Measures first runnings volume (hopefully close to 50%), then calculate volume of sparge water needed (hopefully close to 50%), pour sparge water in at 85-90deg, stir, vorlauf, and drain for total boil volume.
My questions:
1. Is there anything wrong with plugging each recipe into a brew calculator and adjusting the water/grain ratio each time so you add the correct amount of water at the beginning of the mash so as to be able to skip the post mash addition, i.e. increase/decrease the ratio as needed so the original mash water volume gives you as close to 50% total boil volume as possible.
2. When calculating sparge volume, do you add more than the needed volume to account for any additional grain absorption/dead space, or is the grain already saturated and dead space now constant?
3. Am I completely confused and should take up knitting?
Thanks, T
I am going to do a batch sparge. From my research it seems that many people will mash at a certain water/grain ratio, then calculate and add additional water after the mash (taking into account dead space and grain absorption) to get approx 50% of the total boil volume (don't know if this is a true mash out or not or if it even matters). Then do 1st running after vorlauf. Measures first runnings volume (hopefully close to 50%), then calculate volume of sparge water needed (hopefully close to 50%), pour sparge water in at 85-90deg, stir, vorlauf, and drain for total boil volume.
My questions:
1. Is there anything wrong with plugging each recipe into a brew calculator and adjusting the water/grain ratio each time so you add the correct amount of water at the beginning of the mash so as to be able to skip the post mash addition, i.e. increase/decrease the ratio as needed so the original mash water volume gives you as close to 50% total boil volume as possible.
2. When calculating sparge volume, do you add more than the needed volume to account for any additional grain absorption/dead space, or is the grain already saturated and dead space now constant?
3. Am I completely confused and should take up knitting?
Thanks, T