Since I started with AG brewing, I’ve always mashed in at 1.25qt/lb and then have always done a mash out. The more I read, the more I’ve considered skipping the mash out. For those that fly sparge with no mash out, what water to grain ratio do you use when you mash in? I’m assuming with no mash out, I may want to use a thinner starting mash to help prevent a stuck sparge?
i use 1.5 qt water to 1# of grain. Try batch sparging, its a lot less work and the results are in my opinion is better. Dont forget th sparge with the same amount as ur batch size
You can definitely trust Kai Troester’s brewing education info. I thought I had read about getting some astringency when going thinner than 1.70 qts/lb, but I don’t see that in section 2.2.8 Mash Thickness at: http://braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php?ti … _thickness
check it out! I wish I had read this before step mashing 2 weekends ago (batch sparge infusion step mash), when I did not hit my last step temp since I didn’t want to go thinner than 1.85 qts/lb at the end of the mash.
On a single infusion mash I generally shoot for 1.40 - 1.70 for best efficiency, but 1.25 works fine too.
:cheers:
Why do you want to skip the mash out? I too fly sparge and feel this is an important step to not only denature enzymes so you get the wort profile you want, but to losen the mash for sparging.
I might be having a change of heart now and may stick with the mash out. I mash in a 10 gallon round cooler, and was finding that it more water than anticipated on large grain bills to get it up to 168 degrees for the mash out. This wasn’t leaving much water left over for the fly sparge, so I had been wondering if I’d just be better off skipping the mash out resulting in a longer sparge. I wasn’t sure what the trade offs were on the larger grain bills–mash out and short sparge or no mash out and longer sparge?
If mash tun size is a factor you could always lower your grain to water ratio. You can even go as low as .9:1 and get conversion. Have you tried using a 1:1 ratio?
Mash tun size isn’t an issue. I was more concerned with the fact that larger grain bills were requiring more boiling water to get the mash up to 168 degrees. With that extra water already in the mash tun, that would mean that there’s less needed during the fly sparge to hit my pre-boil volume. I wasn’t sure if I would be better off dropping my water to grain ratio from 1.25 qt/lb to closer to 1:1 like you mentioned in order to use less boiling water during the mash out, leaving more water for the fly sparge? However, if this wouldn’t really change much in the final beer profile, then I’d probably just stick with my normal 1.25 qt/lb and use less water during the fly sparge on the larger grain bills. Thanks for the help!
I just shoot for my 2 runnings being equal volume so if it takes a 2 to 1 ratio thats what I use. So my ratio always changes depending on my grain bill. I have used ratios as high as 2.1 to 1 without any issues.
