Mashing and Sparging... can't I just do the first?

TheDuke

I've a question - I've done partial only and had the back up of my LME to make sure it worked.

I am looking to do some mashing in my next brew but have a few questions. If I leave the grain sit in the water at 63c for 60mins can i not just sieve out the grain and use the left over liquid. Do I really have to sparge and what exactly does that do?

Thanks

BeerNut

You can. AFAIK it's just a way of washing more fermentables out of your grain and thereby increase your efficiency.

sharingan

If the sparge is putting you off, consider using the Brew in a Bag technique, which doesn't use a sparge process (usually), but still gets you a good extract efficiency.

TheDuke

sharingan wrote: »

If the sparge is putting you off, consider using the Brew in a Bag technique, which doesn't use a sparge process (usually), but still gets you a good extract efficiency.

Thanks. I'll give that a try. I don't have the equipment and I want to start more basic. Read up on it and sounds like the plan.

Just one last question. To get the right og how much malted grain should us on 5l when using this method and for how long should I hold it at what temperature ideally?

Many thanks!

gothictwilight

I posted this in another thread but there's two books which have loads of recipes specifically for 1 gallon batches.
They have step by step instructions and may be a huge help for you.

Both books are by the Brooklyn Brew Shop.

I downloaded them onto my Kobo.

You can get them on amazon here

TheDuke

Thanks, I'll check those out

TheDuke

Can someone still help me with the simple maths please.

For a 5l batch I would usually use 750g LME so in it's simplest form I would want to use 1kg of grain. I would mash it in 2 liters of water and sparge with 3 litres (ignoring boil off for now). Does that make sense or am I way off with my basic maths here??? Thanks


http://www.jaysbrewing.com/2011/11/17/lazy-chart-for-converting-dme-lme-grain/

macnug

TheDuke wrote: »

Can someone still help me with the simple maths please.

For a 5l batch I would usually use 750g LME so in it's simplest form I would want to use 1kg of grain. I would mash it in 2 liters of water and sparge with 3 litres (ignoring boil off for now). Does that make sense or am I way off with my basic maths here??? Thanks


http://www.jaysbrewing.com/2011/11/17/lazy-chart-for-converting-dme-lme-grain/

I havnt started all grain yet but would you not need to allow for absorption from the grain and loss from boiling? What kind of og are you aiming for? I don't think that chart makes sense because there is no direct conversion between grain and lme. It all depends on the efficiency of the system/grains.


From what I've been reading I think you assume 60% efficiency on your first beer, and on average, for base malts you get 37 points (on your hydrometer) for every pound of grain, divided by the number of us gallons of wort. So 1kg of grains would be 2.2lb * 37 equals 81.4, 5l is 1.32 gallons so 81.4/1.32 equals 61.6, so the maximum possible points that could be achieved if you had 100% efficiency is 61.6. However this is impossible and the average is between 70% to 80%. So if we assume 60% to be on the safe side as the equipment/ method is un tested, we would have 61.6 * 0.6 equals 37 points, so the og would be 1.037.

Now again as I said I'm a novice too and this is just something I've picked up on the web so I could be off with the information.

loyatemu

just use some brewing software - it'll give you the figures and then you can adjust for your own kit with experience.

Brewmate is free
Brewtoad is online and free
Beersmith is apparently the best, but not free (you get what you pay for etc.)

TheDuke

thanks guys.... I got Brooklyn Brew Shop book and started reading it and it's really helpful and also keeps it real simple. I just put on a Belgian Ale but didn't want to risk it but will do a Bohemian Larger in the next day or two and will go for all grain... hope it'll work out.

fobster

I read about No-Sparge. If you do a full size batch with no sparging, you need more grain and more water and a big mash tun.

irish_goat

You can try batch sparging, it's pretty easy.

http://beersmith.com/batch-sparging/