Mash Liquor Volume

[iamleescott]

Does it matter if I mash with the required volume of water for the boil or should I mash with a reduce volume of liquid first, and then top up to the required amount pre-boil?

Thanks

 

[MX1]

Either will work, try both ways and see what works best you and your system

MX1

 

[IslandLizard]

If you top up with water your efficiency will be lower since a lot of relatively high gravity wort remains trapped in the grain. If you squeeze that bag well, your efficiency goes up accordingly.

You can get a few extra points out by sparging the bag, say in a separate large bucket with a few gallons of water. Again, a good squeeze will get more trapped wort out. Then add the wort from the sparge bucket to your kettle. Then top off to get your volume or your estimated preboil gravity, whichever is most important to you.

 

[doug293cz]

If you top up with water your efficiency will be lower since a lot of relatively high gravity wort remains trapped in the grain. If you squeeze that bag well, your efficiency goes up accordingly.

You can get a few extra points out by sparging the bag, say in a separate large bucket with a few gallons of water. Again, a good squeeze will get more trapped wort out. Then add the wort from the sparge bucket to your kettle. The top off to get your volume or your estimated preboil gravity, whichever is most important to you.

Yeah, what Lizard said.

Brew on