Hi everyone, I just purchased my first all grain kit from Austin Homebrew to brew next weekend. I am reading over the instructions and have a question about how to mash. In their instructions it sounds like they use fly sparging, when I have a 10 gallon cooler that I plan on batch sparging in. This is their instructions:
"In your kettle heat your strike water. Heat 1.25 qt of water per lb of grain to 20°F higher than desired mash teperature. Ideal mash temperature is 150°F (there are 10 lb of grain in this recipe). Mash the grains in the hot water for 60 minutes. Take temperature readings every 1/2 hour to ensure a stable starch conversion. Begin heating sparge water. Heat 5 gallons of water to 175°°F, and put in hot liquor tank. Once mash is complete begin to recirculate the wort by drawing it off the bottom and returning it to the top of the mash-tun, while not disturbing the grain near the false bottom. Recirculate for 10-15 minutes until wort is clear, and free of grain husks. Begin the sparge and runnoff into the kettle at the same rate. A rate of 12 minutes per gallon is ideal, be sure to keep 1-2 inches of water on top of the grain bed. Once sparge water is used or you have reached 6.25 gallons begin heating for boil. Don't run off more than 6.25 gallons of wort!"
So, they are using a fly sparge method. What would be the best way for me to convert this to a batch sparge? And better yet, how can I set up the profile in BeerSmith so that I can just use that in the future for all my brewdays. Does each recipe require anything different (other than temperature, and maybe amount of water)? Like will I need to do multiple different runoffs, and how many runoffs should I do? Does the number of runoffs differ from recipe to recipe? I have read that it is best to get your runoffs in equal parts (so if I am shooting for 6 gallons, I should get 3 in the first and 3 in the second). How would I enter that into BeerSmith?
Lastly they seem to really want you to use just 6.25 gallons of wort at the beginning of the boil, would it be that bad to use 6.5 gallons or more? I want to end with the 5.2 gallons, and I know I will boil off too much if I just use 6.25.
Also their recipe did not state a total boil time, just that the first addition should be 30 minutes. Is it always best to just do a 60 minute total boil and then after 30 minutes add your first addition? I do know some people do 90, how do you know what to do each recipe?
"In your kettle heat your strike water. Heat 1.25 qt of water per lb of grain to 20°F higher than desired mash teperature. Ideal mash temperature is 150°F (there are 10 lb of grain in this recipe). Mash the grains in the hot water for 60 minutes. Take temperature readings every 1/2 hour to ensure a stable starch conversion. Begin heating sparge water. Heat 5 gallons of water to 175°°F, and put in hot liquor tank. Once mash is complete begin to recirculate the wort by drawing it off the bottom and returning it to the top of the mash-tun, while not disturbing the grain near the false bottom. Recirculate for 10-15 minutes until wort is clear, and free of grain husks. Begin the sparge and runnoff into the kettle at the same rate. A rate of 12 minutes per gallon is ideal, be sure to keep 1-2 inches of water on top of the grain bed. Once sparge water is used or you have reached 6.25 gallons begin heating for boil. Don't run off more than 6.25 gallons of wort!"
So, they are using a fly sparge method. What would be the best way for me to convert this to a batch sparge? And better yet, how can I set up the profile in BeerSmith so that I can just use that in the future for all my brewdays. Does each recipe require anything different (other than temperature, and maybe amount of water)? Like will I need to do multiple different runoffs, and how many runoffs should I do? Does the number of runoffs differ from recipe to recipe? I have read that it is best to get your runoffs in equal parts (so if I am shooting for 6 gallons, I should get 3 in the first and 3 in the second). How would I enter that into BeerSmith?
Lastly they seem to really want you to use just 6.25 gallons of wort at the beginning of the boil, would it be that bad to use 6.5 gallons or more? I want to end with the 5.2 gallons, and I know I will boil off too much if I just use 6.25.
Also their recipe did not state a total boil time, just that the first addition should be 30 minutes. Is it always best to just do a 60 minute total boil and then after 30 minutes add your first addition? I do know some people do 90, how do you know what to do each recipe?