Howe much water for 1 gallon batch?

[rferguson61]

I tried to do a test batch last night as my first all grain batch but I screwed up. I only ended up with a half gallon of wort and I used just shy of 2 gallons for the mash/sparge. How much mash water do I need and how much sparge water?

 

[Strecker25]

i use the brew365 water calculator (http://www.brew365.com/mash_sparge_water_calculator.php) with really good luck. Once I got my loss %'s nailed down its really accurate.

 

[njschmidt]

It depends on how many grains you're using ... Can you give some specifics? I've seen most people on HBT recommend 1-2 quarts per pound of grain ... Then you sparge until you have your desired boil volume.

 

[Jawbox0]

If I was going to just do a 1 gallon batch I'd just get a nylon grain bag, use the full volume ( about 1.6G including boiloff, grainloss, and trubloss) , and let it drain without sparging. Essentially do a Mini brew in a bag.

 

[torbanac]

If I was going to just do a 1 gallon batch I'd just get a nylon grain bag, use the full volume ( about 1.6G including boiloff, grainloss, and trubloss) , and let it drain without sparging. Essentially do a Mini brew in a bag.

This! I just did a 1 gallon smash to see what Simcoe hops tasted like, came out with 7 bottles of beer.

 

[rferguson61]

It depends on how many grains you're using ... Can you give some specifics? I've seen most people on HBT recommend 1-2 quarts per pound of grain ... Then you sparge until you have your desired boil volume.

Its a simple one. 1 lb german pilsner, 1lb german wheat, .2 oz ht hood (60 min).

I (stupidly) used my 5 gallon brewpot and I think that helped with the boiloff

 

[TipsyDragon]

you put in 2 gallons of water and got only half a gallon out?? something just doesn't seem right there.

 

[rferguson61]

you put in 2 gallons of water and got only half a gallon out?? something just doesn't seem right there.

I think its because I used a 5 gal kettle so it didn't take much to boil/over boil

 

[TipsyDragon]

oh you only got half a gallon after the boil not out of your mash tun.... right?

 

[rferguson61]

oh you only got half a gallon after the boil not out of your mash tun.... right?

Yeah after the boil

 

[Ghostly]

I tried a Brooklyn Brew Shop 1 gallon kit, and they use 2.5 quarts for the mash, 4 quarts for the sparge, so 1.625 gallons total, and less than what you used. I actually attended a lecture given by them, and noted that they use "around" 1qt per lb of grain, which seems low to me. Not sure why they use a lower ratio. I wound up with around a gallon in total, though, so your kettle is probably what made you lose that much volume. For the next 1 gallon batch I'm definitely going to switch to the method Jawbox mentioned, full-volume no sparge BIAB.

By the way, torbanac, at that lecture they gave samples of single-hop IPAs to show different hop character, and I was pretty amazed by the grapefruit-like character of the Simcoe.