new to all grain with some simple questions

[psujeeperman02]

So, i am new to AG brewing. I have ingredients and a recipe, but am unsure of the proper amounts of water for a 5 gallon batch.

First, I have 16lbs of grain.
I have read that 4 gallons of water for mashing should be fine.

Now, what I am unsure of is how/where do I add the water to bring it up to correct batch size?

Is this during sparging? Do I account for boil off?

 

[GrogNerd]

work backwards from how much you intend to bottle

figure out how much bottling loss, fermenter loss and boil-off loss and add to get how much you need pre-boil. you can estimate all this, but you'll need to brew and measure to get specific amounts for your equipment

figure out your strike volume. this is anywhere from 1 to 2 quarts per pound of grain. this ratio depends alot on style and recipe, but also on personal preference.

figure out loss due to grain absorption (pretty much a constant 1 fluid oz per oz of grain) and any dead-space in your tun (totally dependent on your equipment). subtract this from your strike and that should tell you how much your first runnings should be

your sparge amount will depend on how much first runnings you get. start with however much water your first runnings are short of your pre-boil volume. don't need to account for grain or dead-space loss in your sparge amount, you should get as much water out as you put in

 

[kombat]

First, I have 16lbs of grain.
I have read that 4 gallons of water for mashing should be fine.

A good rule of thumb is 1.25 quarts of strike water per pound of grain. In your case, that's 1.25 qt/lb * 16 lb = 20 qts, or 5 gallons. So you'd use 5 gallons of strike water.

You can expect to lose 0.1 gallon per pound of grain to absorption, so your grains will soak up 1.6 of those 5 gallons, meaning there are 3.4 gallons of first runnings available. Subtract however much you'd lose to your mash tun's "dead space" (that is, liquid that sits below the drain plug and will remain in the tun), and that should be roughly how much wort you'll get from your first runnings.

If your boil-off rate is, say 1 gallon/hour, and you want to end up with 5 gallons, and the recipe calls for a 60 minute boil, then you want to start with 6 gallons. So measure how much you actually collect in first runnings (should be a little over 3 gallons, as mentioned), and add the difference as sparge water.

Note that for sparge water, you don't need to account for either grain absorption (because they're already saturated) or mash tun dead space (because it's already full of wort from your strike water). However much you add in sparge water, you'll get it all back out. So if you need another 2.8 gallons of wort to get you to your 6 gallon starting boil volume, then you'd add exactly 2.8 gallons of sparge water.

 

[thegreatmaibockaddict]

If I were you, i would get these and do a little reading

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0062215752/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0062215779/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

they both have invaluable information and will always be there as a reference whenever you need a question answered on the fly or otherwise.

Your questions about water volume and the like I believe may be dependent on methods used, but 16 lbs of grain for a 5 gallon batch makes for a pretty big brew with a thick mash. If you are using a large cooler, I would have 5 gallons of water at the ready in case you need extra for temperature control. You will want to gather at least 6 gallons (I usually gather 6.5) of wort for your boil to allow for boil off over the course of a 105 minute boil (15 minute pre boil). Figure having a sparge with 5.5 gallons and cut it off when you have gathered a proper amount. Should not have any issues with the runoff gravity when doing a big beer like this.

 

[LLBrewer]

If I want to net 5.5 gallons into the fermenter I will want about 6.5 gallons at the end of the boil. I don't like to get the cold break and hop residue into the fermenter.

 

[KeyWestBrewing]

Others have covered most of the bases already. One thing I'll add is if you fly sparge you can just sparge until you reach your pre boil volume. Set up with more sparge water than you'll need and when you hit your preboil volume stop sparging. Whatever sparge water you have left over you don't need. This doesn't really help you figure out how much water you'll need for the brew day but it will get you where you need to be until you figure it out. Just make sure you use the proper volume in the mash. YMMV but it worked well for me when I first started out.

 

[masonsjax]

I aim for 1.5 quarts of water per pound of grain for the mash. Not too thick, not too thin. After collecting first runnings, use a calibrated dipstick or markings on your kettle if you've got them to see how much you have. That will tell you exactly how much more water you need to sparge with in order to hit your pre boil volume. Since the grain is already saturated, what you put in is what you'll get out. You can count on using around 9 gallons total for a 5 gallon batch, give or take. I tend to boil off a little over 1 gallon per hour, so I aim for 7 gallons for a 60 min boil or 7.5 for 90 mins. After leaving trub behind, I'm putting around 5.5 gallons in the fermenter and eventually 5+ in a keg.