Excessive mash water

[WildKnight]

My false bottom holds two gallons of water under it. So, if I stick to 1-1.25 quarts per pound of grain, then the top of my mash will not be submerged in water.

1) How much will my efficiency be hurt if I use too much mash water?

2) Is it really a big problem if I just boil longer to remove the excess water? (that is, assuming I am not brewing a very pale pils for which I do not want excessive caramelized sugars)?

3) Currently, it takes 6-6.5 gallon to sufficiently cover 15 lbs of grain. Should I just not sparge?

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

Are we talking RIMS/HERMS or single infusion?

 

[EuBrew]

And why does your tun hold 2 gallons of water under the false bottom? That seems like an awful lot to me

 

[JonK331]

Some people say that a good deal of the enzymes soak through and end up in the dead space and this hurts efficiency. I'm not sure of this myself and have not read anything to prove it but it does make some logical sense. An easy fix would be to mash in a regular food grade bucket and then transfer to your vessel with the false bottom for sparging. You could also recirculate the wort from the bottom back to the top of the grain bed throughout the mash. I'm curious to see what others say about this.

 

[WildKnight]

Not sure what RIMS/HERMS is, but single infusion at 148F, then slowly heat to 154.

It's a standard polarware false bottom in an 8 gallon SS mash tun.

I presumed the enzymes stayed inside the grain, close to the husks and sugars. If they are dropping to the bottom, then they are also closer to the heat source. The water below the FB is about 4F warmer than the top when heating. I generally open the valve and pull water out, dumping it on top to maintain a uniform temp while heating.