Water to Mash Ratio

[Tonz]

I’m doing my 1^st Extract / mini mash brew today  : - )  Can anyone advise how much water I use for my mash? My grains fill a 2.5 – 3.0 litre pot, so am I right in assuming I use 5 – 6 litres of water? My actual mash pot holds 8 litres.

Also with the grains making up only 33.3% of the fermentables is it still worthwhile sparging before I do the boil?

[Tonz]

I can relate to your mate. As l was topping up the fermenter l realised I had forgotten to insert the filter into the tap so a quick soaking of the hand in a sterile solution and plunged my hand down to the depths of the barrel only to find that the filter has to be inserted into the tap BEFORE you screw it to the barrel  ;)  also as if  that wasn't enough, as I was giving my brew the final oxygenating stir at 700  RPM  I noticed something glistening. Using my trusty 600mm brewers spoon I fished out and landed what appeared to be a 4 inch rubber thingy. Swore black & blue it must of been inside of the dextrose bag when I poured it into the fermenter. Latter after several hours of reflection & debriefing on my brewing day, I realised it was in fact a rubber seal from my chilled water container lid. All adds to the fun and experience of brewing  :)   You still wanta come round for a beer  lol

[Scarrfie]

Tonz I recall reading thread by a well known identity on an American Homebrewing website on this topic. The discussion there was on the difference between high conversion and high extraction rates. His theory was that a 6:1 ratio (derived from BIAB ) worked as good as anything. My first few brews were done like this and I hit 90% efficiency with one brew, although that was with a very fine grind done in my coffee grinder :-) I did one not so long back where I stuffed up and ended up close to 6:1 again, but still achieved 80% efficiency.

Basically I wouldn't not sweat the issue, just go with what your equipment and systems can handle:-)

[Tonz]

Thanks Scarrfie, sounds all good to me. My "equipment" is my sweethearts 9L stewing pot,  :-)  Going to buy one of those shiny S/S 35L pots when I can afford it, though she has offered me her 15L aluminium pot. Anyone got any thoughts on using an aluminium pot for BIAB ? I personally dont like the thought of using aluminium but ...

[Kelly Milligan]

Aluminium isn't to bad providing you don't have any other metals in there.. Other metals plus an acidic liquid (mash + wort) = Battery!! ;P

[Tonz]

And l was going to put a cake rack (prob steel) in there to keep my bag off the bottom. lol Thanks for the heads up