Okay to use more mash water?

[Quyzi]

The last several recipes I've done were 12-15 pounds of grain, and I mashed it to a thickness of 1.25. However, I'm going to be brewing a lighter beer tomorrow with only 8 pounds of grain. I can fit a whole lot more water in my brew pot than the 3.15 gallons of water called for (plus a half gallon that sits under my false bottom). Is it okay to use more water in the mash?

 

[johngaltsmotor]

IIRC you want to not overdo it because of the concentration of enzymes needed to be most effective. But you can easily go up to 1.5qt/lb without a problem.
Depending on your efficiency you'd rather save that for mash-out and sparge just to rinse more sugar off the grain.

 

[daksin]

Yea, I typically mash at 1.5qts/lb and don't go thicker unless I need to fit extra grain into my mash tun. The more mash you have (water+grain) the better it holds heat, in my experience.

 

[Quyzi]

Mashed last night at 1.5 qt/lb. Turned out great

 

[unionrdr]

Yeah,I do pb/pm biab in my 5G ss BK/MT. The more volume of grains/water I have,the better the heat retention while wrapped up during the mash. Typically,1.5 QTS water per pound of grain works well. Then sparge up to my boil volume. For me,2G of local spring water to 5-6lbs of grain,sparge with 1.5-1.75 gallons of the same water for boil volume of 3.5-3.75 gallons in said 5G kettle.