How Do I Calculate Mash Tun Size For No Sparge Brewing?

[Microphobik]

Sorry guys/gals, I know this has been asked a lot, but after an hour or two of searching I'm just not coming upon the info I'm looking for.

I'd like to start brewing with the no sparge method to simplify my brew day a bit, and also start playing with Partigyles fairly regularly.

I'm looking for a simple way to calculate how big of a mash tun I would need.

So lets say, for example, I want to be able to brew a barleywine with 23lbs of grain to collect 7.5 gallons of pre-boil wort (to be boiled down to 6 or less)...

How big does my mash tun need to be if I want to use the no sparge method?

And how much water do I need to add to that 23lbs of grain?

I'm super confused by this for some reason and my calculations don't seem to be right whenever I pull out the calculator or start tinkering with the mash calculators I've been able to find.

Thanks in advance.

 

[tektonjp]

Sorry guys/gals, I know this has been asked a lot, but after an hour or two of searching I'm just not coming upon the info I'm looking for.

I'd like to start brewing with the no sparge method to simplify my brew day a bit, and also start playing with Partigyles fairly regularly.

I'm looking for a simple way to calculate how big of a mash tun I would need.

So lets say, for example, I want to be able to brew a barleywine with 23lbs of grain to collect 7.5 gallons of pre-boil wort (to be boiled down to 6 or less)...

How big does my mash tun need to be if I want to use the no sparge method?

And how much water do I need to add to that 23lbs of grain?

I'm super confused by this for some reason and my calculations don't seem to be right whenever I pull out the calculator or start tinkering with the mash calculators I've been able to find.

Thanks in advance.

Sounds basically like a BIAB setup, so I quickly went here: http://biabcalculator.com/

if your grain absorption is .045 g/lb (I haven't a clue, I'm a metric guy), then you need 8.8 gallons into the MT. And your MT needs to hold 10.6 gallons of volume.

And, just up at the top of this forum: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/how-big-your-mash-tun-needs-123585/

 

[Microphobik]

That BIAB calculator is exactly what I needed. Don't know why I didn't think to search for that. I kept looking for mash and sparge calculators and the mash thickness fields were always throwing me off Thanks!

 

[madscientist451]

tektonjp (above) is using a grain absorption rate of .045 gallons/lb of grain. Others use .075gal/lb or .1 gal/lb. I don't know what's best for your situation, but I usually go with .1 gal/lb.
So at .1 gal/lb of absorption, you need to account for 2.3 gallons for 23 lbs of grain. Add that to your desired pre boil volume of 7.5gal and you get 9.8 gallons. That comes about 39 quarts or 1.7 qt per gallon mash thickness.
Plug that into a mash calculator and you'll need 11.62 gallons of space.
That should get you in the ballpark, you may have to tweak your numbers to get the right absorption rate.

 

[Microphobik]

tektonjp (above) is using a grain absorption rate of .045 gallons/lb of grain. Others use .075gal/lb or .1 gal/lb. I don't know what's best for your situation, but I usually go with .1 gal/lb.
So at .1 gal/lb of absorption, you need to account for 2.3 gallons for 23 lbs of grain. Add that to your desired pre boil volume of 7.5gal and you get 9.8 gallons. That comes about 39 quarts or 1.7 qt per gallon mash thickness.
Plug that into a mash calculator and you'll need 11.62 gallons of space.
That should get you in the ballpark, you may have to tweak your numbers to get the right absorption rate.

Thanks! That helps as well.

 

[pricelessbrewing]

Hey microphobik, check out my calculator at pricelessbrewing.github.io as an alternative. Has a couple more features than biabrewing