First all grain

[jessej122]

So before I do my first all grain batch just from videos I've watched I take away that to do a 5 gal. U should boil about 6.5 gallons to account for boil off,so would I would mash with 6.5 gallons of water? Any other tips,help,advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks and cheers

 

[jessej122]

Also plan on batch sparging

 

[cavalrymsh]

You'll mash with quite a bit more as your grain will absorb water.
Do you have an outline of your recipe and process?
edit : mash + sparge

 

[kombat]

No no no, you DO NOT mash with 6.5 gallons (or more, as cavalrymsh suggested).

You mash with the appropriate amount of water according to the desired water/grain ratio, which is typically in the range of 1.25-1.5 quarts of water per pound of grain.

So if your grain bill was 10 pounds, you'd mash with 12.5 - 15 quarts of water.

Your grain will absorb some of that water (typically 0.1 gallons/pound), meaning you'll likely only get 8-11 quarts of wort for your first runnings. You'd make up your boil volume (6.5 gallons) with your sparge water. That is, if you get 10 quarts of wort (2.5 gallons), then you'd sparge with 4 gallons of water.

You don't have to worry about the grain absorbing water during sparging, because it's already saturated.

 

[jessej122]

How many runnings do you typically do?

 

[kombat]

I batch sparge, so I do 2 runnings. I run off the first runnings (a few quarts), then dump in the sparge water, give it 10 minutes to settle, then vorlauf again and drain the rest of the runnings into my boil kettle.

 

[cavalrymsh]

No no no, you DO NOT mash with 6.5 gallons (or more, as cavalrymsh suggested).

You mash with the appropriate amount of water according to the desired water/grain ratio, which is typically in the range of 1.25-1.5 quarts of water per pound of grain.

So if your grain bill was 10 pounds, you'd mash with 12.5 - 15 quarts of water.

Your grain will absorb some of that water (typically 0.1 gallons/pound), meaning you'll likely only get 8-11 quarts of wort for your first runnings. You'd make up your boil volume (6.5 gallons) with your sparge water. That is, if you get 10 quarts of wort (2.5 gallons), then you'd sparge with 4 gallons of water.

You don't have to worry about the grain absorbing water during sparging, because it's already saturated.

My point was to see to what degree of preparedness the OP was with planning his first AG. The question hinted at uncertainty in overall process. His recipe, techniques and expected outcomes will determine some parameters (eg grist ratio).

 

[brewkinger]

Ok for ease of calculation and discussion, lets build on what kombat already said.
Assume 10# grain bill
1.25 quarts per pound = 12.5qts of water to mash with.
1 gallon or so absorbed by grain means that you would theoretically get 8.5 qts in kettle after you vorlauf and collect first runnings. Lets call it an even 2 gallons to make it easy.
If you want 6.5 gallons per boil volume then you have to add an additional 4.5 gallons of sparge water.
I personally split his amount into 2 batches of 2.25 gallons each.
Add first batch, stir like hell and then vorlauf and drain.
Repeat
You should now have your pre boil volume

 

[cavalrymsh]

Ok for ease of calculation and discussion, lets build on what kombat already said.
Assume 10# grain bill
1.25 quarts per pound = 12.5qts of water to mash with.
1 gallon or so absorbed by grain means that you would theoretically get 8.5 qts in kettle after you vorlauf and collect first runnings. Lets call it an even 2 gallons to make it easy.
If you want 6.5 gallons per boil volume then you have to add an additional 4.5 gallons of sparge water.
I personally split his amount into 2 batches of 2.25 gallons each.
Add first batch, stir like hell and then vorlauf and drain.
Repeat
You should now have your pre boil volume

You made that look ridiculously simple.

 

[brewkinger]

Can't take full credit Cav, I had a little help.

 

[gwapogorilla]

No no no, you DO NOT mash with 6.5 gallons (or more, as cavalrymsh suggested).

You mash with the appropriate amount of water according to the desired water/grain ratio, which is typically in the range of 1.25-1.5 quarts of water per pound of grain.

So if your grain bill was 10 pounds, you'd mash with 12.5 - 15 quarts of water.

Your grain will absorb some of that water (typically 0.1 gallons/pound), meaning you'll likely only get 8-11 quarts of wort for your first runnings. You'd make up your boil volume (6.5 gallons) with your sparge water. That is, if you get 10 quarts of wort (2.5 gallons), then you'd sparge with 4 gallons of water.

You don't have to worry about the grain absorbing water during sparging, because it's already saturated.

+1

Personally, I sparge 1 time, and my running gravity at the end of sparge is 1.015. They say to stop collecting wort when your gravity is 1.012, because at 1.010 you are going to get off flavors from tannins.

I have my beersmith calculated so I mash with 1.25 guarts per lb. of grain and so the sparge brings me up to a total of 7.5 gallons of collected wort. I also trow in 4-6 cups of boiling water during the mash to maintain the desired temp. But at the end....usually 7.5 gallons plus a hair.

I have a big 11 gallon kettle I boil in....my boil off is 1.2 gallons per hour. Also factor in break loss, trub loss and bottling loss.
I end up with a perfect 53 bottles almost every time.