Grain to Gallon Ratio

[austin_grimes]

Hello, Ive been doing some reading and im getting ready to start a 5 gallon brew. What is a good grain to gallon ratio? also what is the average amount of water you guys have used? this is the first time doing this solo and i want to knock it out of the park. any suggestions tips and sites that can help would be amazing. also does the combination of grain and hops matter alot?

Thank you

 

[McKnuckle]

Does the combination of grains and hops matter a lot? That's kind of like asking if the ingredients you put in the sauce matter a lot. Marinara? Pesto? Bechamel? Korma? Tartar? What kinda sauce you be lookin' to make!?

Same with beer.

Have a go:
http://www.howtobrew.com

 

[MEPNew2Brew]

Assuming you have a large enough mash tun, 1.25 - 1.50 quarts of water per pound of grain is the accepted ratio. Those who have more knowledge than I can explain why would want a thinner (that is more water) or thicker (less water) mash. I have recently moved from 1.25 to 1.50 quarts to hold my mash temps better.

Does the grain and hop combos matter - yes. But, if you are using basic pale malt of some kind and a bit of specialty grain, then you can go with just about any hop combo that provides the right amount of bitterness. Your best bet is to find a simple recipe for a style you like and try it out.

 

[PackerfaninSanDiego]

many use 1.25 quarts per pound

 

[austin_grimes]

Alright, I appreciate it.

 

[RM-MN]

I prefer a 2.75 ratio. YMMV but the ratio is not very important. What is more important is getting the grains stirred in well so that there are no dry grains in you mash. Note the amount of wort collected when you drain the tun, then add the amount of water needed to get you to the expected preboil, stir like mad, then stir some more, then drain.

 

[IslandLizard]

Plug some numbers into Brew 365's or Brewer's Friend's mash calculators. As long as your mash tun can hold the volume of grains and water and is still well stirable a W/G ratio of 1.25-1.75 will be fine. I've gone from 1.25 through 1.33 to 1.5 lately, easier to stir and to hold the heat a little better. I like to (batch) sparge twice with equal volumes.

Preheat the tun, then once the water is at "strike temp" pour in your grains and stir like you mean it for 3-5 minutes. Take the temp after you've stirred, and adjust if needed. When good, cover with aluminum foil to keep more heat down in the mash, and put the lid on. Let it be for the entire mash time.

Now "strike temp" to me means what the calculator says PLUS 4 degrees to compensate for heat loss during stirring while the lid is off. I go to plus 6-7 degrees for smaller (3 gallon) batches, they lose relatively more heat.

You need to know roughly what your boil off is per hour, and estimate what kind of "losses" you get from trub left behind and racking losses, so you end up with 5 gallons to package. For a 5 gallon batch I always brew 5.5 gallons to compensate for my losses and end up with 5 gallons in the keg. If your boil off is 1 gallon per hour (very nominal) you'll need 6.5 gallons of wort, pre-boil for a 60' boil. 7 gallons for a 90' boil.

 

[blizz81]

Here's my take on a 15# grain bill ending around 5 gallons in bottles. I'm generally at 1.25qts/lb for a single infusion, batch sparge AG batch.

 

[Paps]

Just a rough starter and certainly not anything written in stone,
use
10 LBS of grain
then for strike water use
4 gallons water
then to sparge use
4 more gallons water
1 OZ hops for bittering at 60 minute mark &
1 OZ hops for aroma/taste at the 15 minutes remaining mark.
For your first all grain i suggest doing a S.M.A.S.H. beer
(single malt and single hop) and use a neutral dry yeast like "Nottingham"
this will help you better understand what flavors the individual malt/hops bring to the beer.
Hope this helps.