What is the standard water to grain ratio for all grain mashing . Gallons of water to lbs of grain.
I’ve seen references to a range of ratios. 1.25 quarts per pound to 2 quarts per pound. You can go higher and lower than that range. Based on what I’ve seen/read 1.5 quarts per pound seems to be the most common.
I don’t think there is any “standard” ratio. I use around 1.50 qts./lb. mostly in my brews. Some people go with 1 qt./lb. of grain, some people go higher than me. Depends on the size of your mashtun too.
Most common mash ratios are between 1.25 - 2 quarts per pound of grain, or .31 - .5 gallons per pound.
When I brewed my last batch, I started with 1 qt/lb for the first step infusion and ended up at about 2 qt/lb by the third (last) step.
You can go to 2+ qts/lb for malts with high enzymes.
Often a simple infusion will be fine in the 1.25 to 1.5 qt/lb.
+1
It is also process/system dependent. For instance i use a EHERMS (Electric Heat Exchange Recirculating Mash System) that uses pumps to recirculate and 1.75 to 2 qts/lb works best on “my” system.
+2. I like 1.8 -2 for average strength beers.
I’m still in the process of setting up my RIMS, so this is good info. I’m assuming the thinner mash is to avoid problems with sticking? Any other benefits?
If you’re batch sparging, efficiency is optimized when the runoff volumes are equal, so I use whatever volume of strike liquor gets me there. For a single sparge, that works out to anywhere from 1.0-2.5 qt/lb depending on the grist mass. A no-sparge beer could get up to 4 qt/lb.
For fly sparging, you want to use the thickest mash you can still work with on your system. Below about 1 qt/lb, getting the mash incorporated using only stirring gets difficult.
BIAB’rs go even higher, I’m doing a batch today that came out to 3.5 QTS per pound.
Normal for me is 1.65 qt./lb. But it can be anywhere from 1-2 qt./lb.
Pretty much like me, although I’ve found that equal runoff volumes don’t matter all that much. Getting them within a gal. produces pretty much the same result.
Thank you all for you input on this post…this has been something I’ve wondered about for awhile now --very helpful!
For simplicity, I have gone to standard equal water volumes then adjusted post mash by adding sparge water to the mash before Vorlauf based on the amount of grain and assuming a .125 gallon per pound of grain absorption to get to a “close enough” to equal runoff in the two runs. Maybe unnecessary per Denny, but done by choice since a routine is helpful…ymmv.
If I have a monster grain bill, I will improvise and do a batch/fly-like sparge by starting the run and adding the rest of the water water slowly to the second sparge as it is draining, before it gets to a “dry grain bed”. A rarity but it worked fine enough and pH didn’t suffer with all of the water being treated per Brunwater.
I have a three keg system with an elevated HLT, so I can do this relatively easily without a pump and cracking the HLT drain valve slightly open, rather than full bore.
At the BIAB level, I have not really worried about it and just mash pretty thin. (Though my BIAB brewing is usually limited to mid-winter in house brewing when SWAMBO allows.)
I go anywhere from 0.9 qt/lb with like a barleywine when I sparge a ton and boil longer, up to 2 qt/lb with a lighter beer. Average is anywhere from 1.3 to 1.8 qt/lb for “normal” strength beers. For the most part, it really just doesn’t matter much. It doesn’t directly impact efficiency or attenuation or body or anything else you can think of. At least not until the biggest beers like barleywine, where at that point you might want to sparge as much of the sugars out as possible to keep your efficiency up. Maybe. Up to you.
Mash ratio just really doesn’t matter all that much in my experience. Huge gravity beers might be the only real exception, IF you care about sparging and boiling longer to maximize efficiency. Or take the hit.
I guess I’m starting to repeat myself. I’ll say it again… no, I don’t need to. Seriously though…
Mash ratio really doesn’t matter. Play with it and see for yourself.
I mash anywhere fom 1.5 -2 qts/lb for most beers.
I’m kinda new to this, and was researching the same question. One factor I failed to take into account is what is my mash tun (kettle) has a false bottom. From what I gather you are suppose to treat the liquid under the false bottle as if it were not there, when it comes to water to grain ratio, is that good gouge?