Full volume Mash. How does that work?

[The Green Man]

Out of curiosity, did you hit your stike temp when adding the grains?

I had the strike temp right, but I assumed the grain temp was 15c...but didn't measure it...plus the 2:1 ratio seemed way too thick, dry even. I could do it in my small 7 litre pot, but not again. It was literally at the brim

 

[okoncentrerad]

Do you have your pot insulated? I got something like this which I've cut to fit my pot and wrap around (twice) and tighten with straps. Also the lid have gotten the same treatment. I don't loose much heat.

 

[Mark D Pirate]

2:1 water grain ratio in metric is very very thick .
I usually run 4:1 or higher up to nearly 6 : 1 as ben states .
For my money it makes a difference , I sparge on both systems I drive and get stable efficiency of 80 % for standard gravity beers ( 1.060 or less )
If its working for you then keep it up but I'm not about to mash ~5kg of malt in 10 litres on my system and lose 1/4 to dead space and have big clumps of dry grain just wasted

 

[The Green Man]

Yeah, it was a pain to stir. I'm pretty sure there were no solid clumps left, but it was hard work. I'll be mashing looser next time.
My pot is insulated, I use two big.cool bags which fit tightly around the pot. It doesn't lose heat much, it just didn't have it in the first place on this occasion.
Live and learn.
On the upside, bottled a MO and Mosaic SMaSH PA today. Wow! The grapefruit and citrus really bowled me over. Can't wait to tuck into that in a few weeks time.

 

[Nicked26]

Out of curiosity, did you hit your stike temp when adding the grains?

I did a full volume mash today and my efficiency jumped from 70 to 85 percent. Also just read an interesting article about using half the full volume for the mash and the boil and adding the other half of the water back at the end..........it was done by the beerexperiment chap and there was no difference to doing it the full volume way......go figure

 

[Mark D Pirate]

I did a full volume mash today and my efficiency jumped from 70 to 85 percent. Also just read an interesting article about using half the full volume for the mash and the boil and adding the other half of the water back at the end..........it was done by the beerexperiment chap and there was no difference to doing it the full volume way......go figure

Can you link the article ? Sounds like maxi biab and it does have some downsides particularly in hop utilisation

 

[BOB357]

I do batch sparge in the colder months and full volume mash BIAB in the warmer. I always mill twice at .030" and see little or no difference in efficiency with similar grists. I winch the grain bag up and let it drain while bringing the wort to a boil.

Many of the old methods have been shown to be based on tradition rather than science. As has been stated by many in the past, there are many ways to convert and extract. Are some more efficient than others? Sure, but not enough to worry about at our volumes.

The biggest concern with thinner mashes is to recognize the importance of water composition. While, with many water supplies, mash pH will fall into an acceptable range without any adjustment, thinner mashes are weighted more toward water pH than mash pH and will require salts/acids to bring them to where they need to be.

If it weren't for the bitter cold temperatures during our Winters and the resulting temp. losses. I'd do full volume BIAB year 'round.