water to grain ratio

Brewing Processes
1

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

2

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.

3

Yes, you do.

4

really…1.75 qts?

5

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.

6

Absolutely, occasionally up to 2 qts/lb. There are BIAB guys who mash thinner.

7

Denny, you use 1.65 right?

8

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.

9

FWIW, I use anywhere from 3-3.5 qt/gallon in my beers (BIAB/no-sparge) with no issues to speak of.

10

Those are small gallons!  8)

11

same here…1.80ish qt/lb is my norm and sometimes up to 2qt/lb.

12

Lol qt/lb obviously :slight_smile:

13

Does anyone kick the ratio up a little bit for a lager as opposed to an ale?

14

I often use 2 qts/lb for lagers, 1.5 or less for ales.

15

That’s the median, but I’ll go more or less as needed.

16

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.

17

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

18

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

19

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

20

I got a bump of 3-4 points when I jumped from 1.2 to 1.75ish.