My first AG on Saturday, need advice.

[hinke]

Hi,

Doing my first AG this Saturday, but I am so confused on the whole sparging.

I am using a total of 13 pounds of grains, I have a 10 gallon rubbermaid cooler as a MLT.

I calculated the amount and temp of the strike water (I am planning to mash at 153F):

13 pounds * 40 oz = 520 oz / 128 oz = 4 gallons

4 gallons of strike water at:

(0.2/1.25)(153-72) + 153 = 166F

How do I calculate the amount of sparge water and temperature?

Is this something that can be calculated in BeerSmith?

Any advice?

Thanks.

 

[Runyanka]

Beersmith should calculate your sparge water for you. Are you going to use the batch sparge method or fly sparge? I usually mash in with 1.20 qt of water per pound of grain. Then do the double batch sparge method. Basically if you are wanting to start your boil with 6 gallons of wort, and you collected 2.5 gallons off your first runnings, then you will want to sparge with roughly 3.5 gallons of water. You should have any water loss to do absorbsion during sparging.

 

[thedidey]

Most use 170F for their sparge water temp.

For your sparge water you need to calculate how much boil volume you need and subtract what you're going to get from your mash.

Your grain absorption will vary but 0.125 gal/lb is a good estimate. So for 13 lb of grain your grain will absorb 1.6 gallons. So you'll get about 2.4 gallons out of your mash. You need enough sparge water to get up to your boil volume.

Always heat up extra though.

After you do it a couple times you can get a better estimate for your absorption which is based on the crush of the grain......(I think)

 

[hinke]

I guess I have to figure out BeerSmith

I will batch sparge.

Does sparge with 180F water make sense?

 

[EonBlue66]

Make sure you use other online calculators to double check what beersmith says. It can be tricky to get beersmith dialed in.