Hello all, this is my first posting to the forum. I have been homebrewing for years, won a few awards in competitions in the past, and now I am making my leap into all grain. I want to try a ten gallon batch to begin with but wanted to get some feedback first. On the grain bill, do I just double everything? Same for the hops? I don’t have any pumps as of yet so I will be using gravity to sparge and to get it into the kettle. I have two kegs, one mash and one kettle and a 20 gallon igloo cooler for the hot liqour tank. Whats the best ratio of water to grain for mash? How much sparge water should I use? Is fly sparge better than batch sparge? Any and all feedback is greatly appreciated! Merry Christmas! :cheers:
Use ~ 1.5 qts/lb of grain in the mash. Work backward from the end to figure the water needed. If you want to keg/bottle 5 gallons you have to account for the yeast cake loss, so add 1/2 gall, plus boil-off compensation, add another gallon, plus water held in your grain, ~ 1/8/qt per lb of grain. That makes 7.75 gallons assuming 10 lbs of grain, if you don’t use a false bottom, and you are batch sparging. If you use a false bottom you need to account for the water beneath it (‘foundation water’). If you are fly sparging you’ll need to add for the water that will be needed to maintain depth of the sparge water until you are done collecting. You’ll know when to stop either because you’ll have collected your pre-boil amount (6.5 gallons in this case), or because the Ph will have dropped below a pre-determined point, say 1.008 or 1.010. That’s the biggest difference between batch and fly sparging - fly sparging is a little more demanding because you have to keep the sparge water level constant, etc., but efficiency might be a hair better. With batch sparging you just mash, drain, refill with the appropriate amount, stir and drain, than boil.
http://gnipsel.com/beer/software/beer-software.html
Download Mashwater 3.3 from the above site to confirm you water calculations.
When I fly sparge on a friends system, we maintain the 1" of water above the grain, until we fell there is enough water in the MT to fill the boil kettle. Then when we have the preboil volume the MT is almost dry. Same amount of liquid in the MT at the end as we would doing a batch sparge.
When batch sparging, how long should I keep the water on the grain while stirring. In the past I stirred for about five minutes. Should I go longer?
When the mashing is finished you’re just rinsing the sugar out, so however much time you need to stir it thoroughly should be long enough. I forgot one more bit of advice: having 10 gallon brew capacity is great, and yes, you just basically have to double everything, but do yourself a favor and brew a couple of 5 gallon batches first. The process is the same, but it’s a little more manageable and any lifting you have to do, say lifting your boil pot high enough to drain into a carboy, is easier. Good luck.
Okay, one more thing: I skimmed past the recirculation, AKA vorlauf. When you sparge you first drain the runnings into a bucket or jug until it runs clear, pouring the collected runoff gently back onto the top of your grainbed. If you batch sparge, you have to do it again when you collect the 2nd runnings.
I"m not understanding your question?
Adding grain to water. Stir until all dough balls are removed. 30sec to 2 minutes. Allow mash to sit for 1hr. Add the exta water (if that is how you roll). Stir for 15-30sec. Vorlauf and drain. Add sparge water. Stir 15-30 seconds. Vorlauf and drain.
I"m not understanding your question?
Adding grain to water. Stir until all dough balls are removed. 30sec to 2 minutes. Allow mash to sit for 1hr. Add the exta water (if that is how you roll). Stir for 15-30sec. Vorlauf and drain. Add sparge water. Stir 15-30 seconds. Vorlauf and drain.[/quote]
Nighthawk, I’m not an all grainer yet, but I have seen some say you add the sparge water, stir, let it sit for fifteen minutes and then drain. I don’t understand why you would want to wait, do you know why some say to do this?
[quote=“mppatriots”]
Nighthawk, I’m not an all grainer yet, but I have seen some say you add the sparge water, stir, let it sit for fifteen minutes and then drain. I don’t understand why you would want to wait, do you know why some say to do this?[/quote]
Possibly they feel that this allows more sugar to leech out of the grain into solution?
Per Denny’s site, “a few minutes”.
I would interpret that as 1-5 minutes.
There’s no need for a rest when you’re doing the sparge, just stir it up really good and drain as you would the mash.[quote=“midmobrwr”]do yourself a favor and brew a couple of 5 gallon batches first. The process is the same, but it’s a little more manageable and any lifting you have to do, say lifting your boil pot high enough to drain into a carboy, is easier.[/quote]I agree. When I do 10 gallon batches it’s about all I can do to lift the pot on to the burner after the sparge. Besides being heavy, it’s an awkward lift, it’s nice to have someone around to help.
[quote=“Nighthawk”][quote=“mppatriots”]
Nighthawk, I’m not an all grainer yet, but I have seen some say you add the sparge water, stir, let it sit for fifteen minutes and then drain. I don’t understand why you would want to wait, do you know why some say to do this?[/quote]
Possibly they feel that this allows more sugar to leech out of the grain into solution?
Per Denny’s site, “a few minutes”.
I would interpret that as 1-5 minutes.[/quote]
I guess I am asking after adding the sparge water, how long should I keep the sparge water on the grain before collecting the second runnings. In the past, I added the sparge water, stirred it around for five minutes, then drained. I do the Vorlauf when mashing because I’m doing my mash in a 15 gallon kettle with a false bottom over the burner. I never Vorlauf during the batch sparge, but that sounds like a good idea.
Merry Christmas to all!!
I treat the “mash out” and “sparge” water the same. No real rest period.
After the 60min mash, add the “mash out” water. Stir for 5-30 seconds. Vorlauf and drain.
Add the “sparge” water. Stir for 5-30 seconds. Vorlauf and drain.
[quote=“Nighthawk”]Add the “sparge” water. Stir for 5-30 seconds. Vorlauf and drain.[/quote]Yes, there is no benefit to waiting for draining on the sparge.
