mash water for barley wine

[meanyeb]

I would like to brew a 5 gallon or so batch of barley wine with around a 9.5kg grain bill (21lb). I have a 30l (7.9 gallon) mash tun. Is a ratio of 1 quart per lb of grain for mash water feasable or should I just scale back my recipe to ensure a decent and efficient mash? The volume of my mash tun I reckon is the limiting factor!

Cheers

Eamon

 

[Golddiggie]

Use this site to figure out the water to grain level... You won't be able to use 1.25 qt/# with your MLT...

I have a 70qt cooler/MLT to use when I'm ready to start making big barleywine's...

 

[GuldTuborg]

Count on a nice, long boil, too. It will help flavor development, and also help you get a higher gravity wort out of a smaller amount of grain. Or, you could double mash, but that's expensive and time consuming. Still, it does work.

 

[Golddiggie]

I second the idea of doing two full mashes and then boiling to get your target volume and OG...

When I make my big barleywine, I plan on mashing the grains in the 70qt cooler/MLT and then boiling down to the target volume (no idea, yet, how long that will take)... I plan to start that batch with a full propane tank, plus one in reserve, just in case I need it... I hope that it doesn't use up THAT much gas...

 

[bmantzey]

I recently tried my first barley wine. I did the double mash method. I had a problem with my second sparge that set me back a little bit but I recovered. The double mash was more time consuming and all but I didn't mind the challenge. It's better than upgrading all my stuff.

 

[meanyeb]

Thanks, thats great, I had considered double mashing but thats last last resort. You could even say I wont be doing that! Either way, my mash tun will be bursting at the seams.

 

[Golddiggie]

Call it "BustaTun BarleyWine" then...