Id like some help with all grain brewing

[Sebastien]

Can u explain to me what they mean by :

Mash in : add 18.94qt of water at 161.8 F

Sparge step : batch sparge with 2 steps (0.89gal, 4.10gal) of 168 F water

I'd like to know what they mean and how I should do it the right way.
I got 1-10gal mash tun with false bottom and a 10 gal brew pot with inside pick up tube connected to spigot


Thanks
Sebastien

 

[hunter_le five]

Is it a cooler mash tun?

-Preheat your mash tun with hot water, then dump it out.
-Add 18.94 qts of 161.8°F water, and then stir in your crushed grains, making sure to break up any dough balls. (This is your "mash-in" step)
-Continue stirring until your target mash temp is reached (I'm guessing ~150°F?), and then cover and hold at that temp for an hour.
-In an hour, add 0.89 gallons of boiling water, and drain your mash tun into your brew pot. (This is your first "batch sparge" step). You may first want to "vorlauf", which just means running some of the mash into a pitcher and returning it to the mash tun until it runs "clear" (no large bits of grain husks).
- When the mash tun is drained, add an additional 4.1 gallons of 168°F water, stir, let sit a few minutes, and repeat the vorlauf/draining process. (This is your second batch sparge step).
-proceed with your boil steps

 

[madscientist451]

Mash in means put the hot water in your mash tun, then add the grains.
After 60 mins of mashing time you add the .89 gal and to raise the mash temp a little, let it sit a while, then drain it off. I drain mine off somewhat slow, but others say that doesn't matter.
Then you mix in the 4.1 gallons of sparge water, let that sit a bit then run that off. Now your mashing is done and you put the pot on to boil.
Its best to pre heat the mash tun with hot tap water while your strike water is heating. Use the mash calculator on the greenbay rackers website to figure your strike water temp. Hope that gets you started, good luck & cheers!

 

[Sebastien]

Its a igloo brand mash tun

But it's a 5 gallon recipe why do I add 19qts after .89 gal after 4.10 gal ??

There's something I'm not getting hahah

 

[unviewtiful]

Its a igloo brand mash tun

But it's a 5 gallon recipe why do I add 19qts after .89 gal after 4.10 gal ??

There's something I'm not getting hahah

Those numbers account for the losses from grain absorption and any deadspace you have plugged into your software.

 

[Sebastien]

So that means I'll add total of ~10 gal and at the end I'll have my 5.5gal volume

 

[hunter_le five]

So that means I'll add total of ~10 gal and at the end I'll have my 5.5gal volume

Exactly.

Go make a bowl of oatmeal with 1 cup of water and half a cup of oats, and then try to drain a cup of liquid back out if it. I'll wait.

 

[unviewtiful]

So that means I'll add total of ~10 gal and at the end I'll have my 5.5gal volume

After boiling and chilling, yes. I forgot to mention the boil off and shrinkage. But depending on your grain bill, that sounds pretty close to what it should be.

 

[Sebastien]

Sounds great here's the recipe tell me what u think View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1433354210.348920.jpg

 

[Natdavis777]

Your typical water to grain ratio is 1.33qts/lb. So I would assume your grain bill is ~ 14lbs. If not, just take your grain weight (in lbs) and multiply by 1.33 (or whatever ratio you would like. Higher ratios for thinner mashes, lower for stiff mash, etc)... So that is where the 19qts come in. That is called your strike water.

As Hunter_la5 stated, after your hour long mash, you will add the 0.89 gal of boil water. This will raise your overall mash temp up to roughly 160F. This is called your mash out. The purpose of the mashout is to denature the enzymes so you still arent converting sugar while sparging. You would then completely drain the mash tun, add the 4.10 gal of ~160F water, stir, and drain as well. This will net you your pre-boil volume

Now, if it were me, I would just combine the 0.89gal water addition and the 4.10gal water addition together. You can still achieve the mash out in a single batch sparge step.

If you are confused on why so much water is used, the grain will absorb a decent amount of the water during the mash. You will put in 19 qts, but you wont get near that out of your first runnings. Assuming you have little deadspace, you can expect to collect around 45% of your strike water volume. So that would mean your first running volume would be (19qt=4.75gal) a little over 2 gal (8.5qts). The ~5 gal you will batch sparge with wont be absorbed by the grain, as it has already met its max absorption. Therefore, you will collect an additional 5gal of wort from the sparge, netting you a pre-boil volume of 7gal, which is common for 5 gal. You will then boil this for an hour, add hops, etc, and at the end of it all, your post boil volume will be around 5.5gal (depending on boiloff rate, how vigorous the boil is, etc).

Transfer to the fermenter, (you will lose some volume, which is equipment loss), ferment, and package. In the end, you will net 5 gal of beer.

 

[Sebastien]

Couldn't be any clearer thanks a lot

 

[HomeDrewBrew]

Does boiled water always have to be added to a Sparge? Or just two step sparges.
Thanks

 

[hunter_le five]

Does boiled water always have to be added to a Sparge? Or just two step sparges.
Thanks

No. It depends on the size of the addition(s) and target temps.

The only reason I suggested boiling water for the first addition is because at that small amount (0.89gal), you're not going to get much of a noticeable temp increase using 168°F water. Even using boiling water in the first addition isn't going to get you all the way up to your desired mash out temp of 168°F, but it will work.

 

[hanuswalrus]

What about stirring during the mash? Isn't that recommended? I've read that people stir gently once or twice during the mash, then stir before each vorlauf. Is that common practice?

 

[hunter_le five]

What about stirring during the mash? Isn't that recommended? I've read that people stir gently once or twice during the mash, then stir before each vorlauf. Is that common practice?

I generally stir once halfway through the mash. Some people swear it's not necessary, as most of the starch conversion has probably already happened by this point. In this case I say do whatever makes you feel good. It may or may not make a difference, but I don't see how it can hurt anything either.

I also stir after each batch sparge water addition, followed by a few minutes rest, and then vorlauf. I feel like the stirring is probably actually helpful here.

 

[hanuswalrus]

I generally stir once halfway through the mash. Some people swear it's not necessary, as most of the starch conversion has probably already happened by this point. In this case I say do whatever makes you feel good. It may or may not make a difference, but I don't see how it can hurt anything either.

I also stir after each batch sparge water addition, followed by a few minutes rest, and then vorlauf. I feel like the stirring is probably actually helpful here.

Thanks. Now when you say stir, do you mean the entire mash? All the way down to the bottom of the grain bed / top of the false bottom? Or just the top of the grain bed?

 

[hunter_le five]

Thanks. Now when you say stir, do you mean the entire mash? All the way down to the bottom of the grain bed / top of the false bottom? Or just the top of the grain bed?

The whole mash, each time.

 

[RM-MN]

I don't do well at measuring things like 18.94 quarts. I make beer, not rocket fuel. Rounding make things easier. 20 quarts is easier than 18.94. The temperature is somewhat critical but really, 161.8F? How about 161 since we already rounded up the amount of water. A sparge of .89 gallons sounds ridiculous. Sparging has one real purpose, to get more sugars out of the mash. Do 2 gallons for the first sparge. Measure the wort collected from both draining the mash and the first sparge. Decide how much more wort you need to reach a reasonable pre boil amount (typically 1 gallon of water is boiled off so lets assume that). I like to put 5.5 gallons into the fermenter and since I know I am likely to boil off a gallon, that means I need 6.5 gallons before I start the boil. Hmm....I collected 5 gallons from the mash plus the first sparge, that means I need another 1.5 gallons so I add that much more water to the grains and since they are already saturated, I expect I will get that much back out.

What happens if I boil too hard and boil off more than the gallon? Well, since it was just water I boiled off, I add water back to the wort to replace it.

 

[hanuswalrus]

I don't do well at measuring things like 18.94 quarts. I make beer, not rocket fuel. Rounding make things easier. 20 quarts is easier than 18.94. The temperature is somewhat critical but really, 161.8F? How about 161 since we already rounded up the amount of water. A sparge of .89 gallons sounds ridiculous. Sparging has one real purpose, to get more sugars out of the mash. Do 2 gallons for the first sparge. Measure the wort collected from both draining the mash and the first sparge. Decide how much more wort you need to reach a reasonable pre boil amount (typically 1 gallon of water is boiled off so lets assume that). I like to put 5.5 gallons into the fermenter and since I know I am likely to boil off a gallon, that means I need 6.5 gallons before I start the boil. Hmm....I collected 5 gallons from the mash plus the first sparge, that means I need another 1.5 gallons so I add that much more water to the grains and since they are already saturated, I expect I will get that much back out.

What happens if I boil too hard and boil off more than the gallon? Well, since it was just water I boiled off, I add water back to the wort to replace it.

I totally agree. I round to nearest quart, if anything.