Effects of adding water part way through mash

[FirstAidBrewing]

Morning All,

So I am brewing a barley wine this weekend and am nervous that my mash tun won't hold all the water called for at 1.5 qt/lb of grain (28lbs).

I'm doing a parti-gyle in order to use the second running to make a small beer, so there is no sparge whatsoever.

I am supposed to get about 7 gal of wort from first runnings at the ratio above, but like I said, I'm not sure I can get all the grain plus the water into the mash tun.

I had the idea to wait for the grain to absorb some of the water and then top off with more hot water part way through the mash. The mash is 60 minues, so I'm thinking half way through at the 30 minute mark.

What are the ramifications/consequences of doing this?

 

[ThunderpantsBrewing]

I've never really paid attention to this when mashing, so it may be a stupid question, but when the grain absorbs the water, wouldn't it just swell and occupy the same space as before?

 

[FirstAidBrewing]

Good question! I'm also not sure. I figure there's got to be at least SOME pace in between the grains though. Of course that could also be me hoping that I don't have to build a second mash tun by 8am tomorrow

 

[frettfreak]

I've never really paid attention to this when mashing, so it may be a stupid question, but when the grain absorbs the water, wouldn't it just swell and occupy the same space as before?

Pretty sure this is correct. Never really paid a ton of attention, but my tun has a line and i notice that the water / mash level stays consistent throughout the mash.

As far as the beer is concerned, you likely wont notice much of a difference, but i would add it all at the beginning and run some off if you need to make space later.

 

[Yooper]

I've never really paid attention to this when mashing, so it may be a stupid question, but when the grain absorbs the water, wouldn't it just swell and occupy the same space as before?

Yes.

 

[TexasWine]

Morning All,

So I am brewing a barley wine this weekend and am nervous that my mash tun won't hold all the water called for at 1.5 qt/lb of grain (28lbs).

I'm doing a parti-gyle in order to use the second running to make a small beer, so there is no sparge whatsoever.

I am supposed to get about 7 gal of wort from first runnings at the ratio above, but like I said, I'm not sure I can get all the grain plus the water into the mash tun.

I had the idea to wait for the grain to absorb some of the water and then top off with more hot water part way through the mash. The mash is 60 minues, so I'm thinking half way through at the 30 minute mark.

What are the ramifications/consequences of doing this?

I'm a BIABer, so forgive me if this is a silly suggestion. But if you're concerned about not fitting all that into your mash tun, why not change the ratio to something like 1.25 quart/lb? And if you're short on volume at that ratio just sparge until you hit it.

I'm not entirely clear why your can't use a sparge and still make a small beer. I did this a couple months ago. Efficiency was way higher than expected so once I hit my numbers while sparging the main beer I just kept on sparging and put the extra wort into a second kettle. Ended up making 3 extra gallons of what turned into a session IPA.

 

[ruger988]

http://www.rackers.org/calcs.shtml

Half way down, "Can I Mash It"

Enter your info.

You're welcome.

 

[tjpfeister]

+1 for thicker mash
As for ramifications? You could alter your temp and will almost certainly change your pH. You're not magically going to get any extra room outside of the initial dissolving that occurs