Mashing for the first time

[gwynclan]

I would like to do a 10 gallon batch of an american pale ale. I am using approx 21.5 lbs of grain. If i am batch sparging in a 15.5 gallon keggle. should i use as much water as i can @ first. how much water should i use. or should i do 2 additions and how long should i let it rest before i mash out.

 

[brewagentjay]

I'd do 1.5 or 1.25 quarts of water to each lb grain ratio at first & I'd add a strike water volume plus 3 gallons to that to use for sparge. You might not need it all but good to have it handy.....

I'd do a single infustion mash with a batch sparge could use another one if need to get pre boil volume have to play by ear.........

 

[Yooper]

I like to do two rounds of batch sparging, using approximately have of the water each time.

So, if you need 8 gallons of sparge water (as an example), you could split it into two 4 gallon rounds. I like to use hot sparge water in the first round, to get the grainbed up to 168 degrees. I use software to help me figure out the temperature and amounts, but usually the first addition of water for the sparge is in the 180s to get my grainbed of 152ish to 168 after draining off the first runnings.

 

[brewagentjay]

Listen to Yooper she is good at this stuff.......I think perhaps I'll do two batch sparges next time as well......

 

[gwynclan]

were do you get your quantities are there formulas for this

 

[dcp27]

the amount of mash water (in quarts) is just 1-2 times the lbs of grain, usually around 1.25-1.5 is used, so like 30quarts for you

I think the amount of sparge water usually works out around the same, but the formula (for quarts) is approx
sparge water = batch size + 4*boil time/60 - mash water*0.6 + launter deadspace
the 0.6 accounts for grain absorption

so for you sparge water = 40 + 4*60/60 - 30*.6 + 2 = 28 qts

edit: realized I had some mistakes in the formula

 

[ReverseApacheMaster]

there's a spreadsheet floating around called beer math that calculates all that out. It worked for me down to the ounce.

 

[Yooper]

were do you get your quantities are there formulas for this

I'm mathematically challenged, so I use software. But I set up the software, so I do have an understanding of how to do it even if I don't like to do the actual math!

Like was said, your mash volume is usually 1.25- 1.5 quarts of water per pound of grain. To keep it simple, let's say you have 10 pounds of grain. So, you'd use 15 quarts of water (going with the 1.5 quarts/pound), which is 3.75 gallons.

The grain usually aborbs about .1 gallon per pound, so you could expect to get out 2.75 gallons out of those first runnings, possibly a bit less if you have a lot of dead space in your mashtun.

If it's a 5 gallon batch, your boil volume might be 6.5 gallons. So, if you get out 2.50 gallons from the first runnings, you'll need 4.00 gallons of sparge water to get to your boil volume. I'd split those into two additions, and use 2 gallons in each. That should get you very close to 6.5 gallons of wort.

I picked 10 pounds of grain, to keep the math simple, but it works for all amounts of grain.

 

[gwynclan]

Thanks, brewing went good and hit my target gravity. 10 gallons a little more work but worth it.