how much water?

[Rincon]

Hi everyone

just posted but seems like it didnt post so sorry if this ends up being posted twice!

Because ive been out of action for one reason or another for about a year I'm hitting a mental block and wondered if there was a simple water to grain ratio that people use?

Also is it the same amount of water used for the sparge that was added to the grain?

In my head I have 16l of water to about 4.5kg grain and the same amount for the sparge (aiming for 23l)

Any help would be awesome!

thanks everyone

 

[GerritT]

Howdy @Rincon! Good to have you here! And my first advice is to hop somewhere else, either brewersfriend or brewtoad! They have good apps to have your approach tested.
Or you could wait until some of the seniors here have a say about it...
:

 

[Clint]

I use 2.5 litres per kg. The grain absorbs approx 1 litre per kg. Add the remaining amount to your fv volume plus any trub and boil off losses. Working around 32 litres for a 23 litre batch isn't far off.

 

[Bigjas]

My method is exactly the same as Clints...... 2.5 litres per KG

 

[Fil]

if batch sparging you can be very lazy and brew with minimal measuring, all you need is a FV or big bucket to drain your tun into that has fairly accurate gradient marks made (dont rely on the printed grades, mark your own pouring 1l in at a time imho)

1) mash in with enough strike liquor to provide a nice consistency..
2) for batch sparge #1 top up the tun with your sparge liquor and stir in well before leaving to settle.
3) Measure #1, Drain the tun and measure the volume of liquid you collect lets call that X..
4) calculate your final sparge volume (#2) by subtracting X from your target preboil volume
5) Measure #2, measure off the volume needed for batch sparge #2 and mix in, stand, and drain..

for example with a 28l preboil target, and 17l drained from batch sparge #1 you need 28-17=11l of liquor for batch sparge #2

you will have your target preboil volume in the kettle and as long as your boil reduces the brew as expected you will have your target volume at the end of the brew. Easy

the catch being you will have needed to brew before to have the eye/feel for a good mash consistency

 

[MarkMayf]

Fil - am I understanding correctly. You add the first load of sparge water on top of the mash before draining anything?

I mash at about 2.5l/kg. Drain, then add the first batch sparge water, usually about 15 litres. Not measured. Leave a few mins. Drain again. Then just keep adding a few litres until I fill the kettle. Scientific me!

Edit - I don't bother with a vorlauf anymore. Just drain, fill, wait. Drain, fill, wait. Still have clear beer. (Whole other topic there though!)

 

[Rincon]

Thank you!

This is really helpful!

Does it ever vary from 2.5l per kg? I don’t want to confuse anything but wondered if some beer are different

 

[Clint]

I wouldn't go any less bit going more could reduce the effectiveness of the sparge as you would require less water to meet your pre boil volume (basing things on like for like).I'm not expert so I may be completely wrong!

 

[Rincon]

Thanks everyone.

 

[foxy]

You could always skip the sparge, I use the no sparge method, calculate the extra grain to achieve the same OG and just skip the sparge. The advantages are your pH is more stable and there is no chance of washing tannins from the bed into the wort, makes life a lot simpler. Disadvantage you will pay a few more pence for a better beer.

 

[Rincon]

Fil - am I understanding correctly. You add the first load of sparge water on top of the mash before draining anything?

I mash at about 2.5l/kg. Drain, then add the first batch sparge water, usually about 15 litres. Not measured. Leave a few mins. Drain again. Then just keep adding a few litres until I fill the kettle. Scientific me!

Edit - I don't bother with a vorlauf anymore. Just drain, fill, wait. Drain, fill, wait. Still have clear beer. (Whole other topic there though!)

I dont add the sparge on top, I sparge after draining the liquid off

 

[Rincon]

You could always skip the sparge, I use the no sparge method, calculate the extra grain to achieve the same OG and just skip the sparge. The advantages are your pH is more stable and there is no chance of washing tannins from the bed into the wort, makes life a lot simpler. Disadvantage you will pay a few more pence for a better beer.

Sorry to be slow, but how do you work out how much extra grain is needed? Because i like the idea of this!

 

[Ajhutch]

Sorry to be slow, but how do you work out how much extra grain is needed? Because i like the idea of this!

I don’t want to push in front of foxy, but I also do no sparge. I use BeerSmith mobile software, and their BIAB mash profiles assume a full volume mash and no sparge. My experience is if you mash for a bit longer than you would have using a traditional mash (I mash for 90 mins as standard now) then you shouldn’t need very much more grain at all. But a sensible approach would be to add 5-10% more base malt the first time and see where your gravities come out and adjust as required for future brews.

 

[Rincon]

I don’t want to push in front of foxy, but I also do no sparge. I use BeerSmith mobile software, and their BIAB mash profiles assume a full volume mash and no sparge. My experience is if you mash for a bit longer than you would have using a traditional mash (I mash for 90 mins as standard now) then you shouldn’t need very much more grain at all. But a sensible approach would be to add 5-10% more base malt the first time and see where your gravities come out and adjust as required for future brews.

I'll check out the software but I really like the idea of no sparge, Im not sure I do it right anyway but my beer tends to come out pretty good and at times, really nice (apart from my last one, still have no idea what when wrong with that)

Thanks for the reply!

 

[Ajhutch]

I like no sparge as I’m happy to buy a bit more grain to save time and faff in my brew day. If I had more space and an extra vessel I would probably sparge but I don’t so I don’t!

 

[foxy]

As Ajhutch says you can use a brewing software to work it out or Palmer has an equation on adjusting your recipe,
just do a bit of research into 'no sparge' I can't say it's worth the effort, because its less effort than sparging.:lol: