I usually do a 1.25 qt of water per pound of grain. If there is 2.5 lbs. of flaked maize in the grain bill, do you calculate that weight into the water ratio? I ask because flaked maize simply melts.
Thanks
Personally, I count flaked maize in my calculations. It does mostly dissolve but I’m sure there’s a little absorption. Worst case, you have a slightly thinner mash and slightly better efficiency. As a reference I like to mash ~ 1.75 qts/lb for most beers. No worries.
Yes, you do.
really…1.75 qts?
Me too… Sometimes with bigger beers I end up with 1.5 qt/lb, but I’m usually in the 1.65-1.75 range.
Absolutely, occasionally up to 2 qts/lb. There are BIAB guys who mash thinner.
Denny, you use 1.65 right?
You guys just rocked my world. For 17 years I have been using 1.25 ratio and have been getting a mash efficiency between 94-98%. Then 5.5 gl of sparge water for a 5 gallon batch. Ferment in a 6 gallon carboy. Perhaps I’ll bump up the mash water and lose some of the sparge water.
FWIW, I use anywhere from 3-3.5 qt/gallon in my beers (BIAB/no-sparge) with no issues to speak of.
Those are small gallons! 8)
same here…1.80ish qt/lb is my norm and sometimes up to 2qt/lb.
Lol qt/lb obviously 
Does anyone kick the ratio up a little bit for a lager as opposed to an ale?
I often use 2 qts/lb for lagers, 1.5 or less for ales.
That’s the median, but I’ll go more or less as needed.
Not to start a debate, but the last time I mentioned this most people responded that in the final product you can’t really tell the difference in the same recipe brewed with varying mash thickness. FWIW, I like to pick a number (normally around 1.5 or so) that gets me fairly even strike and sparge numbers. It’s easier to measure 3 gallons of water vs. 3.13 for example.
Seems these aren’t getting posted here anymore but had this in my inbox this morning:
I am normally about a 1.8 qt / lb kind of guy
I gave it a whirl using 1.70 qts. puts per pound. Perhaps it’s my system but I lost both Brewhouse efficiency and mash efficiency. Typical Brewhouse is 80%. Typical Mash 94-98% at 1.25/pound. At 1.70 qts / pound I got Brewhouse of 72% and most disappointing mash at 77%.
BV
batch, fly, no sparge? I batch sparge and at those ratios, high 80’s to mid 90’s on efficiency consistently.
edit: also- you checking PH? thinner mash will result in higher PH - 2qt could be 2-3 tenths higher vs 1.25qt
I got a bump of 3-4 points when I jumped from 1.2 to 1.75ish.