Mash thickness question

Going to do my first AG batch soon. I've been doing a lot of reading and every source recommends a different amount of strike water to use. I've seen 1.5qt per pound and 1, 1.1, 1.2 on up to 2 qt per pound. Was hoping to see what the general consensus was around here.

Thanks!

I think 1.25 is a good starting point. I prefer a thinner mash and typically mash at 1.5qt/lb, but it's just that: personal preference. There is some evidence to show mash thickness can affect fermentability but you should draw your own conclusions there with your own equipment.

1qt/lb is pretty darn thick, and I only go under 1.2 or so if I'm trying to mash way more grain than usual. Efficiency suffers.

I do exactly the same as above. 1.5 usually and only thicker when I need the space for more grain. I use 1.5 because it's easier to stir in grain without doughballs.

This is another example of something that used to be a "rule" that has turned out to really not matter much. BIABers mash with the total batch water volume which I would guess could be as high as 3.5 qts/lb and they do fine.

I've been aiming for the 1.5 qt/lb for the past few years. I was using 1.25 for about 5 years prior. I'm not sure that there was any improvement in the beer, but it made my brew day easier.

There is another factor to consider...your water alkalinity. If the water has higher than desirable alkalinity and you aren't treating to reduce it, then using a thicker mash can help reduce its impact. Conversely, if your water has very little alkalinity, then you might consider thinning out the mash to avoid a too low mash pH. Its a minor effect, but worth considering.

I used 1.25 - 1.5 for several years when I had my three tier system. I finely decided I couldn't taste the difference and the 1.5 was easier to work with. I have since made a recirculating "brew in a bucket" system which slowly circulates my mash water while keeping the temp spot on. Due to this system design, I'm forced to use 3.0 - 3.5 which bothered me greatly... initially.

However, having made many of my favorite brews multiple times with the two systems, I must confess I cannot tell a difference. I no longer worry about this ratio since it is basically fixed with my new BIAB scheme. So far, no issue.

Thanks for all your responses guys. That was exactly the info I needed. But, I do have one more thing I'm not clear on.

I'm brewing a 5.5gal batch which will use 11.5 lbs of grain, if I go 1.5qt per pound I'll have 4.3gal of strike water. Add that to the .5gal of sparge water per pound and I come up with 10.05 gallons of water total. I know I'll lose some to grain absorption and some in the tun dead space. But, how much of this wort do I need to collect for a 5.5gal batch? Seems like there would be a bunch left over. This may seem like a silly question to some but I haven't been able to clarify this.

You'll absorb about 0.1 gallons per pound, so you'll lose a gallon or so to absorption, then whatever your equipment loss is, and then you need to collect more preboil volume to account for boiloff (1-2 gallons per hour, depending on your burner/kettle) and then you also need to account for trub loss (cold break, mostly) that will precipitate out of solution when you chill your wort.

I BIAB, so I can squeeze my grains and end up with more like 0.05g lost to absorption and no equipment loss, so I typically use enough hot liquor to add up to ~8 gallons, so I will always have 7 gallons into my kettle no matter what, and have a very narrow pot so I boil off only a gallon per hour so I end up with 6 gallons of sweet wort out of the kettle. I lose a lot to cold break, betweek 0.5 and 1 gallons, so I always end up with 5 gallons into my keg.

It depends on your system.Most of my 6 gallon batches I use roughly 11.5 lbs
of grain for a 5.5% abv beer.I use a 3 tier gravity setup and fly sparge.For my
average batch I use 4 gal of strike water -1.4 qt. per lb,I then mash out with
2 gal of boiling water and then fly sparge with 5 gal.I end up with 8.5 gal in
kettle and boil down to 6.I usually end up with about 1/2 to 1 qt.of sparge
water left over in my HLT. So in a nutshell I use 11 gal of water for 6 gal batch.
Hope this helps.

Cheers

Brewskey said:

I'm brewing a 5.5gal batch which will use 11.5 lbs of grain, if I go 1.5qt per pound I'll have 4.3gal of strike water. Add that to the .5gal of sparge water per pound and I come up with 10.05 gallons of water total.

Click to expand...

Good question and you'll probably get several answers.

The way I've done this is not to get hung up on the sparge volume. Use your 4.3 gal for the mash and sparge with the total amount of water you need to reach your goal after accounting for the individual losses in your system and process. That would most likely be less than the calculated figure of .5g per pound. You may see some effects on your efficiency by using less sparge water, but overall it will be a minor factor in the big picture.

Thanks again for all your help. You've given me some great information!

Personally I mash with the 1.5 per pound rule. Heat up some mash liquid to get my mash out then sparge until I get about 7.5 gal of liquid into my kettle Always end up with 75 percent efficiency and about 5.5 gallons after a standard 90 min boil. I've waited and collected a sample from my mash tun after my collection numerous times and always had a run off gravity of 1.014 at 68 regress. For what it's worth we all have our own tricks and thoughts. That's the joy of this hobby