Max amount of grain/water in 5 gal tun

[sdenue57]

Just started AG brewing and converted a 5 gallon cooler into a mash tun. What would be the maximum amount of grain I could mash in it? Any help would be great. Thanks

 

[Boots1216]

12 lbs @ 1.25 qt of water per lb.

Source:
http://www.homebrewdad.com/view_page.php?pageid=1

 

[sdenue57]

Thanks, that link was very helpful

 

[McKnuckle]

Use a figure of 0.08 gallons per pound of grain, plus the water at face value.

So 4 lbs of grain would take up 0.32 gallons of space, for example. Whatever's left you can fill with plain water to the limit of your mash tun.

 

[MrFancyPlants]

I'm have a follow up question on the brewdad link.. "(assuming 1.25 qt/lb)"
Can't you mash at 1qt/lb ratio of water to grain and fit more like 15lbs of grain? I haven't pushed the limit this far yet, but I was planning on attempting it for my next biab/ dunk sparge.

 

[McKnuckle]

Refer to the post immediately above yours!

15 lbs of grain will take up 1.2 gallons (15 x 0.08). So you'll be able to fit 3.8 more gallons of water. If you need to compute what mash thickness that is, go for it - it comes out to about 1.01 qt/lb.

 

[ArcLight]

I'm have a follow up question on the brewdad link.. "(assuming 1.25 qt/lb)"
Can't you mash at 1qt/lb ratio of water to grain and fit more like 15lbs of grain? I haven't pushed the limit this far yet, but I was planning on attempting it for my next biab/ dunk sparge.

For BIAB you don't use a mash tun so the question is not relevant.
For BIAB why would you ever use 1qt/lb? That would be 28 pounds of grain for 7 gallons (in fact you would need more to account for trapped water in all that grain) assuming you lose 1 gallon to evaporation, plus hops loss, and what you leave at the bottom of your kettle.

 

[AnOldUR]

What 1qt/lb looks like . . .

 

[MrFancyPlants]

What 1qt/lb looks like . . .

Ha, awesome picture. Now were you calculating your grain to water ratio the way that McKnuckle is, or the way that ArcLight is?

Arclight is not taking into account that the grain is also taking up volume, reducing the amount of water that can be added, and thus the amount of grain.

Arclight, IMHO BIAB, the kettle is your mashtun, so I plead relevance.

 

[McKnuckle]

To be clear, I mostly BIAB so I don't need a qts/lb ratio in my calculations. I just use the above volume figures to determine if my vessel will hold the mash, which is typically a full volume mash (all the water).

 

[AnOldUR]

Now were you calculating your grain to water ratio the way that McKnuckle is, or the way that ArcLight is?

I've always used the Green Bay Rackers Can I Mash It calculator to determine space required.




But the picture I posted wasn't mine. It comes from our club Big Brew last weekend. Sadly, I was only there for about an hour. They ended up with 34 gallons of 1.094 wort for a big Stingo. Hoping to put it into a 30 gallon freshly dumped whiskey barrel.

Calling it, "Stingo Ate My Baby."

 

[MrFancyPlants]

I use the "Can I mash it" calculator too, but I guess my real question is off topic, which is what is the maximum mash density that would still be "stir-able" for BIAB.

Sounds like a fun project, and a sweet name.

 

[AnOldUR]

Don't know the answer to that, but would think that below 1qt/lb would be a challenge and asking for trouble. With that mash thickness and BIAB, the bigger question would be, "Can I Lift It?" Have to request that calculator from the Rackers.

 

[ArcLight]

Don't know the answer to that, but would think that below 1qt/lb would be a challenge and asking for trouble. With that mash thickness and BIAB, the bigger question would be, "Can I Lift It?" Have to request that calculator from the Rackers.

LOL - Can I Lift it


Actually, you can ... with a $6 ratchet from Home Depot.


Now without the ratchet ... that's about 15 pounds of grain, which a manly man such as myself can manage. :fro:

I confess that for 10 gallon BIAB batches I do use the ratchet ... because I once tried pulling out 20+ pounds of wet grain in a bag and ... it's durn heavy.

 

[ArcLight]

Arclight is not taking into account that the grain is also taking up volume, reducing the amount of water that can be added, and thus the amount of grain.

Arclight, IMHO BIAB, the kettle is your mashtun, so I plead relevance.

You are the one not calculating things properly for BIAB because you are not factoring in the wort absorption by the grain.

Your kettle is 5 gallons? Sounds like you are doing stove top BIAB. You aren't getting anywhere near 5 gallons of wort from it.

To get 5 gallons of wort with a 1q/lb ratio you need ... 28 pounds.

 

[MrFancyPlants]

You aren't getting anywhere near 5 gallons of wort from it

I am getting as much wart as I want after sparging and/or topping off with cool water to bring my gravity down to my intended gravity. I thought the question was what is the maximum amount of grain that you can mash in a 5 gal vessle, which ultimately comes down to what is the highest grain to water ratio that you could reasonably stir and sparge.