Using a mash and sparge water calculator??

[fatfloyd]

I am brewing my first All grain tomorrow and am following this recipe. It says to use 6.5 gallons of water for mash, and 2 for sparge.

While using this calculator, I found out that I should use 4.32 gallons for mash and 5.72 for sparge. I dont know if I am using the calculator in the right way. Thanks for your help!!

 

[BamaPhil]

How much grain are you mashing and what's your actual amount of dead space in your mash tun?

As someone who recently graduated to all grain, I'll tell you the second batch is easier, you have a better idea of what to expect.


Sent from my iPad using Home Brew

 

[Copbrew133]

Using the Brewers Friend app it's showing 16.25 quarts or 4.06 gals. of 162.8* strike water for 13 lbs of grain at 70*, at a mash / strike water ratio of 1.25 so not far off. I never used calculators for the sparge water. When I batch sparged I would heat enough water to get the job done Then I would subtract my first runnings from the volume I was looking to collect and that would be the amount of the heated sparge water I would add (taking into account mashtun dead space). Grain absorbtion isn't an issue in that regard. When I fly sparge I just make sure I heat up more than enough to get the final volume I'm looking for. Whatever hot water is left over I use for cleaning.

 

[KyGooglenerd]

As well, I usually batch sparge twice and have found it boosts my efficiency about 5%. Typical first runnings are about 3 to 3.5 gal depending on the recipe. As I need about 7.5 gal boil volume, I'll split the batch sparge into 2 to get there.

 

[AnOldUR]

For some reason the guy who wrote that recipe thought it was best to mash at 2 qts/lb. Might be that he found that he got his best results at this thickness. It's his recipe, so if you want to brew it as is, that's what you should use. After accounting for grain absorbsion and boil-off, his volumes will give you the right amount to your fermenter if your boil off rate is not too high.

I usually shot for two equal runnings. For my system and 5.5 gallons post boil, that would be 5.5 gallons @ dough-in and a single 3.5 gallons for a single sparge.

That's with 2 gallons lost to grain absorbsion and deadspace and another 1.5 gallons lost to the boil. The mash thickness would be 1.7 qts/lb.



edit to add the simple math:

Post Boil Volume + Boil-off = Pre-Boil Volume
5.5 + 1.5 = 7

Pre-Boil Volume / 2 = Sparge Volume
7 / 2 = 3.5

Grain Absorbsion + Dead Space = Mash Loss
1.75 + .25 = 2

Sparge Volume + Mash Loss = Dough-In Volume
3.5 + 2 = 5.5

 

[fatfloyd]

OK, I think I will stick to the calculator results. I should heat more water than the calculator asks for right? A little bit more to compensate for some spilled water or whatever.... sorry I am still a little bit confused.

 

[Spookgolds]

The brew 365 calculator is what I use. It's a great tool, but you have to be sure to plug in all the correct numbers at the top.