Infusion Mash and Runoff

[Cousinz]

I am brewing a Barleywine on a 10gallon cooler system.

Mash temp: 150F
Water/grain ratio: 1.25
Water: 19qt
Grain: 15lb

After the mash at 150 for 75 minutes, I will be Mashing out with 10qt at 209F to reach 168.

This will leave me about 9 gallons of water in the cooler. After recirculating some of the run-off till the beer clears up a bit, should I just let all this to run off at a slow rate of less than 1 quart a minute till I reach my 6.5g boil volume? or should I use my hot water bucket to keep the water over the grain bed instead?


I wasnt sure what was the best way to get the most residual sugar?

Thanks.

 

[HalfPint]

I am brewing a Barleywine on a 10gallon cooler system.

Mash temp: 150F
Water/grain ratio: 1.25
Water: 19qt
Grain: 15lb

After the mash at 150 for 75 minutes, I will be Mashing out with 10qt at 209F to reach 168.

This will leave me about 9 gallons of water in the cooler. After recirculating some of the run-off till the beer clears up a bit, should I just let all this to run off at a slow rate of less than 1 quart a minute till I reach my 6.5g boil volume? or should I use my hot water bucket to keep the water over the grain bed instead?


I wasnt sure what was the best way to get the most residual sugar?

Thanks.

Yes, you will have 9 gallons of strike/mash-out water in, but you will not be getting all of that back. You see, the grain will absorb some of that water, so you will probably end up with about 4.5-5 gallons of water in your kettle, then you will need to sparge (I batch sparge) with the difference from your first runnings to the amount of pre-boil wort you're looking for. You sparge with ~170*F water.

Hope this helps,
J

 

[Cousinz]

I guess I am wondering if I should always leave the water over the grain bed during the runoff until I get my 6.5 gallons, or at some point should i let the water fall down lower.

Wasn't sure if either way would give me a better luck with my efficiency.

 

[drew21close]

I think its much better to use your hot water bucket dude. Its much preferable for me

 

[Cousinz]

Sounds good thanks...

Using Malteurop 2 row i am currently getting 75% efficiency.

 

[OLDBREW]

the rule of thumb is for every 10 pounds of grain you will have 1 gallon lost to absorbtion (YMMV).

15 pounds @ 36 points @ 75% eff. for 5 gal. batch should put you at a 1.080 og. Is that what you are aiming for? I think your efficiency will drop some when doing higher gravity brews. Is the 75% eff. for normal gravity beers on your system?

I'm guessing you are doing a fly sparge using a bucket? If that is the case you want to stop adding water at the end of your sparge so once the grainbed is run dry you end up with 6.5 gals. preboil.