Strike water clac with a recirculating MLT

[SugarJohnson]

I'm just making sure I'm not over thinking this one. I have brewed on my brutus now 5 times. I have been keeping track and modifying the design as I go. The last two batches have come up with increased end yields IE wort. I have my dead space/trub amounts all calculated along with boil off in beersmith and they remain consistent. Help me with my logic-let's say I am doing a 6.5g batch and it calls for 5g strike water. I have about 1/2g dead space under my FB. I think I added this last time to my strike water. In the past I have subtracted that amount from my sparge water. Now I'm thinking does it really matter at all since I am using a constantly recirculating MLT?

 

[Brickhouse]

It's pretty simple. Strike water goes in. Some of it gets absorbed by the grain. Then you may add more infusion water for mash-out or other temperature steps. And then you sparge. When your done sparging some of the water that went into the mash will be lost through hoses, dead space under false bottom, spills, and evaporation.

Assume you don't sparge right away. How much wert would you expect to drain from your mashtun?

First Runoff = Strike Water + other infusions - water absorbed by the grain - dead space loss - hose losses.

When you sparge everything you put in should make it to the boil pot because you already have incurred the other losses.

Recirculation should have nothing to do with it.

 

[ShortSnoutBrewing]

I think you are interpreting "deadspace" incorrectly. Do you have a dip tube under your FB? Dead space isn't the amount under your FB, it's how much liquid is left behind after you've drained all you could. To put another way I have a keggle MLT and also have about 1 gallon of liquid under the FB. BUT, I can drain all but a few ounces out of the MLT. That few ounces is my deadspace. That may be why you are getting more wort than you expected.

 

[Catt22]

I consider only the water to grain ratio when calculating the strike water temperature and volume. I sparge until I have collected the desired pre-boil volume and I make no attempt to calculate an exact sparge water volume. Any wort left behind when the pre-boil volume is reached typically is of very low gravity and not worth trying to recover by continuing the sparge beyond this point. I suggest you experiment with various water to grain ratios until you find a sweet spot that produces the desired mash consistency. You may need to vary this ratio depending on batch size as your dead space etc will remain constant even though the batch size varies. IOW, a larger batch size may require a lower water to grain ratio. It won't be a huge difference though, so it's nothing to fret over so long as the mash comes in at a reasonable consistency. I typically use 1.5 qts/lb for 6 gallon batches and drop it to about 1.25 qts/lb for 12 gallon batches.

 

[SugarJohnson]

Makes sense I was just over thinking things I guess. I have 20 or so all grain under my belt but I am continually modifying this new system.

 

[SugarJohnson]

Well its 1:30 AM and I just finished a dead guy clone. One of the best brewdays yet. Everything went well and all the equipment numbers worked out. Even ran a respectable 81% eff. Finally got this thing worked out. The Stone Ruination IPA on tap helped somewhat???

Thanks to all!