Hi All,
My MT is a 10 gallon igloo cooler which is quite adequate for all of my 5 gallon batches so far. Now that I have a Curtex 13 gallon fermenter, I want to do a 10 gallon batch by doubling one of my favorite recipes. However I cannot achieve the mash/strike water volume for my recipe due to my MT along with GB Rackers calculator. So I was wondering if any of you reduce your grains and compensate your recipe by adding LME or DME to the boil to achieve the desired OG. This is a space issue I have. It doesn’t seem like a big deal other than my recipe will NOT be AG. Thoughts? Thanks, Mike
You could mash thick and do two sparges.
Supplementing some extract seems like the easiest solution. You would probably notice right away if you have lost anything in the recipe by moving away from 100% all grain. If not it would be the way to go - unless you eventually upgrade to a bigger MT.
I imagine you could always use a second smaller vessel to mash part of the batch and keep the recipe as is. Would add a little extra cleanup etc, but should not be particularily dificult to pull off.
Do you think this could mess with my already paltry average 73% efficiency?
[quote=“Steppedonapoptop”][quote=“Shadetree”]You could mash thick and do two sparges.[/quote]Do you think this could mess with my already paltry average 73% efficiency?[/quote]If by “mess with” you mean improve, yes.
This gives me about a quart per pound. Holy bionic mash paddle and arms Batman!
Um, how about buying a bigger cooler?
[quote=“Steppedonapoptop”]This gives me about a quart per pound.[/quote]What’s the total weight of grain and your target OG?
Obvious choice but not practical in most of my needs
Recipe at office, will get back to you
Recipe at office, will get back to you[/quote]
Total grain 23.5# / 1.064 og
There’s a BYO article that quotes 0.32qts/lb for the volume that grain occupies in the mash. So in your case, that’s 7.5 qts occupied by the grain. With a 1qt/lb mash, that’s a total of only 31 qts, or 7.75 gal. You’ll be safe up to 1.25 qt/lb or so. If you’re worried about it, hold back a couple gallons of water until the grain is in, then see how much fits. If you can get 1qt/lb or more you’re good to go.
Thanks!
seriously?
ive done 5 gallon batches in a 5 gallon MT for years
i bought a 10gal cooler so i could accomodate 10gal batches
just sparge more.
personally i sparge till im at 12 gal in the boil kettle.
if ive got 40lb of grain in the 10gal MT and i gotta spend 4 hours running fresh warm sparge water through it, then i do just that.
my wee heavy pushes the limit of the 10gal MT. it was the first thing i brewed on the 10 gallon size. first time through, i nailed my numbers (1.092) and its indistinguishable from the 5 gallon batch.
though, i would have liked to carmalize a smaller bit of the original wort. i need more larger equipment now…
Wow, 40lbs. of grain in a 10gal. mash tun. How much water did you use?
40lb in a 10g cooler is ~.65qt/lb. A thick mash for sure.
23.5lb @ 1.25qt/lb is only 9.22 gallons. That will be right close to the top, but should work. Like was mentioned before, don’t add all the water to the cooler right away.
What ratio did you want to mash at?
