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.
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.
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.
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.
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%.