First All Grain Batch, need help

[XpeedeeX]

I have been wondering if you are brewing all grain and have malt that does not need to be mashed, like crystal malt, do you mash everything else and then steep the crystal or can you put all the grain together and mash everything together.

 

[Yooper]

You put everything all together and mash it all together.

 

[92greenyj]

yeah Mash everything at once. In fact I mix all my grains as I scale them out prior to milling to ensure a good mixture and distribution of all the grains when they go into the mash tun

 

[XpeedeeX]

Thanks for the help guys. Also I was wondering when you have a recipe that calls for a lot of grain say like 15 pounds, all the reading I have done says to use a 1.5 quarts/pound to 2 quarts/pound of grist. And also wouldn't I need to use more sparge water for more grist? And wont this give me far more wort than I actually will be able to use for a 5 gallon batch? I just did my first all grain batch today using a recipe that had an 8 pound grain bill and I used a 1.5 quart/pound ratio and 5 gallons of sparge water and this turned out to be the perfect amount. So I do not know what will happen when I have a recipe that has a bigger grain bill than what I used today.

 

[Yooper]

Thanks for the help guys. Also I was wondering when you have a recipe that calls for a lot of grain say like 15 pounds, all the reading I have done says to use a 1.5 quarts/pound to 2 quarts/pound of grist. And also wouldn't I need to use more sparge water for more grist? And wont this give me far more wort than I actually will be able to use for a 5 gallon batch? I just did my first all grain batch today using a recipe that had an 8 pound grain bill and I used a 1.5 quart/pound ratio and 5 gallons of sparge water and this turned out to be the perfect amount. So I do not know what will happen when I have a recipe that has a bigger grain bill than what I used today.

Some people do use a 2 quart/pound ratio, but I think that's a bit too thin. Partially because if you miss your temps, it's always nice to be able to add some hot or cold water to hit it.

I like using 1.25-1.5 quarts/pound. The easy way to do it is to mash with 1.5 quarts per pound, in this case that would be 12 quarts of water. When you drain the first runnings, you can measure them and then figure your sparge water amount. Usually, the grains absorb .1 gallon/pound, so figure you'll get out 2.2 gallons in this case. That means if your boil volume is 6.5 gallons (for example), you need 4.3 gallons of sparge water.

That works for any size grain bill- the strike water amount will change, but you will always just sparge to get your boil volume.

Once you know your system, and your needed preboil volume, it's really easy to figure it. Some of us use brewing software to help with the calculations. I have a false bottom, and lose some volume there and my software figures that for me for each recipe I do. I think it's important to be able to do it "by hand", though and can always do it in a pinch!