Mash Calculator Questions-1st AG brew

[mrkrausman]

This is my 1st all grain brew. I want to end up with 7 gallons pre-boil to end up with 6 gal. of wort. My target gravity is 1.066. I am mashing in a 10 gallon cooler. I am batch sparging with sac rest at 152 F and mashing out at 170 F. I scaled up the NB Dead Ringer IPA to 6 gallons and the recipe calls for 14.4 lbs malt. What do I put in the mash calc. for mash/water ratio? Do I use 7 gallons or 6? Thanks for your help.
Mike K.

 

[LarryBrewer]

Look under your equipment settings (gear icon in upper right corner) and verify all the settings are accurate. The defaults are sensible, but make sure to update them for your brew rig. After that is done, on the recipe view page, go to Recipe Tools -> Quick Water Requirements, that will give you a good idea of the overall water requirements.

I think you mean mash thickness, and a standard for that is 1.5 quarts/pound of grain. At 14.4# of malt that is 21.6 quarts of strike water.

You might also try the Brew feature, and specifically the Mash Calculator tab for guidance.

Other thoughts - you may end up boiling off more than one gallon. On my wide kettle it is 5.5 quarts/hour with a steady rolling boil.

 

[mrkrausman]

Look under your equipment settings (gear icon in upper right corner) and verify all the settings are accurate. The defaults are sensible, but make sure to update them for your brew rig. After that is done, on the recipe view page, go to Recipe Tools -> Quick Water Requirements, that will give you a good idea of the overall water requirements.

I think you mean mash thickness, and a standard for that is 1.5 quarts/pound of grain. At 14.4# of malt that is 21.6 quarts of strike water.

You might also try the Brew feature, and specifically the Mash Calculator tab for guidance.

Other thoughts - you may end up boiling off more than one gallon. On my wide kettle it is 5.5 quarts/hour with a steady rolling boil.

Thanks that was a big help! I needed to adjust my brew settings and check the quick water tab. Now my strike volume works out.

 

[mrkrausman]

Ok so 21.6 Qts sacc rest it says on the calculator. On the mash out it says 10.5 Qts additional water boiling. That leaves me short 7.5 Qts according to my needs on quick water. (Goal is 7 gal pre-boil) Should the shortage be added to mash out in cooler or added directly to kettle depending on gravity and gallons needed? Or am I doing something wrong here?

 

[LarryBrewer]

So, you are going to strike with 21.6 quarts, stir that in, let it sit for 60-90 minutes then drain it to the kettle (what goes into your kettle is called the first runnings).

During the mash (the 60-90 minute step I just mentioned), heat up 10.5 + 7.5 quarts of sparge in prep for your 2nd runnings. Normally something like 20 quarts at 180F works on my system, so the numbers you mentioned look good. No need to add 10.5 quarts of boiling, then 7.5 of cool water, just do the entire amount of 'remaining water' as your sparge water, drain that to the kettle after the rest time is up, and you will be set!

Keep in mind you should expect the temperatures to be off your first time through. The logic behind the mash calculator is something we are planning to upgrade. I've been charting on my own system to see where it is off.

 

[mrkrausman]

Thanks Larry for answering my questions this evening!

 

[LarryBrewer]

Not a problem, happy to help. Our mission is to help you brew better beer!