The Oktoberfest we’re brewing today calls for 19.5lbs of grain.
The largest batch we’ve done before was 17lb of grain, and the had the mashtun fill to the brim with wort.
I’m thinking about reducing the amount of strike water and just doing two-step sparge instead to get all of the needed water through the system.
Do you think this would work just as effectively as a larger strike and normal sparge?
What is your water to grist ratio? 1.5 to a pound can easily be cut to 1 and just get a thicker mash. Another alternative would be a second mash tun and split it up. Maybe a small cooler then add it back in after running some off the main one.
I have had my MT so full I had to leave out a pound or overflow it and it is a 25 gallon.
1.73 qts per pound for the water/grist ratio.
I already started heating up strike water. Reduced it to 1.5 qts per pound.
Putting 7.5 gallons in the mach, and sparging with 7.5 more gallons.
I don’t have another mashtun to work with, otherwise I would.
No difference than a continuous sparging IMO.
it actually worked out pretty good. The batch sparged filled the mashtun and left about 2 gallons left over.
I just poured the remaining 2 gallons through a strainer as the wort drained.
It was like a hybrid batch/fly sparge.
78% efficient!
