Still trying....

[Lainatan]

So I tried my first all grain brew and the results were positive. The only problem is I'm sure i did it wrong, and like most things I do, just ended up well. I've been trying to document my adventures on my blog, that of course no one reads, on the off chance someone would comment and let me know what I'm doing wrong or at least start a healthy debate on technique. My main issue of course is sparge water, and I've read the posts on here and other sites and 50% say its 1.2 quarts per pound of grain and the other half say 1.2 gallons per pound of grain. I'm confused and only did 3 gallons of strike water with my 6 pounds of grain and then added another 4 gallons throuhg for sparge water and ended up with 6.5 gallons of wort. I was unable to boil off the water, due to my own stupidity but in the end it all seemed to work out. I'm just confused cause water amount seems to be the main issure for most all grain brewers. I guess I'm second guessing myself, please help.

And if you would like to read my blog for more I thank you
http://lainatancontrolledchaos.blogspot.com/

Thank you
Lainatan

 

[kgfitz]

my best advice is to try beer smith http://www.beersmith.com/ i am not good at math and trying to figure out all the numbers and converting them is a pain. there is a free trial there and you just put the numbers in and it tells you what to do. plus there is a couple of good recipes there

 

[pericles]

There's a lot of debate over exactly the right amount of strike water; some people say just use 1 quart per pound, and other people get all the way up to 2. I've NEVER seen anyone claim to use 1.2 GALLONS per pound of grain. At 1.2 gallons per pound, even in a just a basic pale ale, you'd end up with more water than can fit in a standard brew kettle.

 

[kanzimonson]

Figuring out how much water you need is easy:

1) Determine what your preboil volume is. To do this you need to know your boiloff rate. I start my 6gal batches that are boiled for 60 minutes at just over 7gal of preboil liquid.
2) Determine what strike ratio you want. Somewhere between 1.25-1.5 qts/# is typical.
3) Determine what your grain absorption rate is. This will be dependent on your crush, but a standard amount is .13gallons/#
4) Use this equation (make sure to convert everything to the same unit of measurement):

Sparge water needed = (Preboil volume) - (Strike water) + (.13 x pounds of grain)

Once I have this number, I usually add an extra half gallon to my sparge water just to make sure I have enough. There's not much harm in having a little extra. Just don't go past your target preboil volume. And don't worry about a little liquid left in the mash tun... you just have to accept it.

 

[markg388]

really though if the measurement of your strike water is the biggest pitfall in your brew day i'd say you're doing just fine. I don't even measure my strike water, eyeball for the win! It usually takes my brew kettle 3/4 of the way full, then sparge with another 3/4 full brew kettle for perfect results.