reiterated mashing thickness

[ddrrseio]

i am going to attempt a reiterated mash for a barleywine (see basic brewing radio 11/22/07 and a few threads on here). this method calls for two first runnings mashes. the runnings from the first mash are used to mash the second.

in my admittedly limited learning on the subject, i have not yet encountered any recommendations re: thickness. could anyone who has used this method comment on his experiences?

thanks!

 

[BBL_Brewer]

Haven't done it myself, but you're going to have to let you boil volume dictate the thickness of your mash since you're not sparging. For instance, if you're going to mash 20 lbs of grain total and want a boil volume of 6.5 gallons, then you mash with 6.5 gallons plus what the grain will absorb. When you do the second mash, you'll have to add a little more water to account for the water absorbed by the fresh grain. The goal is to drain the last mash and hit your boil volume without sparging.

 

[ddrrseio]

right, absolutely.

but my question arises because if mash efficiency changes with thickness, i could consider smaller grainbill/thinner mash to get the same OG.

 

[BBL_Brewer]

right, absolutely.

but my question arises because if mash efficiency changes with thickness, i could consider smaller grainbill/thinner mash to get the same OG.

If you go thinner to get a higher efficiency then you'll have to boil longer to hit your OG which kind of defeats the purpose of doing a reiterated mash. This technique is designed to yeild high OG wort with a very light color. Boiling longer will darken the wort.

If you do a little searching, there a few ways people go about this. If you want to try and increase efficency, you could do a little sparging. One method I found was to mash a bit thicker on the first mash. Take those runnings and do the second mash adding water to compensate for grain absorbtion. Then take the reamaining water you need to hit your boil volume and sparge the first mash. When the second mash is done, use the sparge runnings from the first mash to fly sparge the second mash. However you go about it, you don't want to collect more wort than you need for an hour boil.

 

[ddrrseio]

thank you!