New to All grain

[lotusworker]

Hi all,

Been brewing mostly extract and partials since did not have much equipment. i know have a garage and plan to add some new equipment.

I converted my oatmeal stout in Beer smith, but have a few questions about my mash profile and what i would need for a mash tun.

I would like to do batch sparging using the John Palmer video of this technique. My grain bill is 14.5 lbs for 5 gallons and I have selected the single infusion, full body, batch sparge. It only gives 1 step (add 18.10 qts of water) I tried a few other profiles. Am I missing something?

My second question would be. I am thinking about purchasing a used 5 gallon mash tun with a false bottom. Would this be big enough for this recipe? I have no problem building a 10 gallon one, but only plan to do 5 gallon batches and did not want too much if not needed.

 

[yourfavo]

14.5 lbs of grain is probably not going to fit.

Use the "Can I Mash It" calculator....
http://www.rackers.org/calcs.shtml

You'd be better off building the 10 gal tun or stick with grain bills that are 10 lbs or less.

 

[dmashl]

I use a 5 gallon tun and the max grain bill I can do is about 12 lbs. So yes a 5 gallon would be too small for the recipe. You can still use that tun by using some DME or LME to make up the difference of the smaller grain bill. My suggestion, make the 10 gallon tun, you will not regret it if you want to consistently make bigger beers.

 

[lotusworker]

Thanks, Is there a certain mash profile in Beersmith to use for this technique?

 

[dmashl]

I'm thinking you convert the recipe to partial mash from all grain. I usually just change the numbers untill I get the right values on the scales below the ingredient list. take off some of the grain, then add back in the DME to get the right numbers.