Water to Grain Ratio Question

[steveh11284]

I'm brand new to this and thought about doing a Hefeweizen for my first go around. Now, is it okay to put 6.5 lbs of German wheat and 4.5lbs of German Pilsner in a 3 gallon pot with 2.5 gallons of water with a nylon bag to strain? Seems like that would be nothing but mush but didn't know if that was okay?

 

[elsphinc]

That's not going to fit

 

[slym2none]

I doubt it would fit. I am just about straining a 4-gallon pot with 2.5G of water & 7 pounds of grain.

 

[MaxStout]

A couple problems here. First, you aren't going to fit 11 lbs. of grain and 2.5 gallons of water in a 3 gallon kettle. Second, even if you had a large enough kettle for that, your mash would be too thick--less than 1 qt. per pound. You want to shoot for something higher than 1.25 quarts per pound. You could probably pull that off with a 5 gal kettle, and hold back a gallon or so to use as a pour-over sparge after you lift out the grain bag.

You can check your numbers using an online BIAB calculator.

 

[McKnuckle]

The equation for mash volume, measured in gallons, is:

water + (lbs of grain X 0.08)

2.5 + (11 X 0.08) = 3.38 gal