# Partial Mash Starter



## cubbie

Hi, I know this has been covered a number of times before and I have read the threads and am trying to pull them together. I thought it may be useful to gather all the details in the one spot that others may also be able to follow. I have numbered the steps that I think you could include in a partial mash.

I was hoping that others could comment on the temps, order of steps and volumes of water (eg how much per kg of grain). We can assume a full boil of the entire volume. I am looking at a basic process though I have broken it down to the individual steps (including some which you may normally assume).

I will be doing my first partial in 3-4 weeks, just need to get a few more bits of equipment. So far I have a 
50l SS Pot (bit thin on the bottom but I have not scolded anything yet)
5l pot
small, medium and large esky

I am the process of building a immersion chiller and locating a large colander.
Perhaps people could add what they think are the minimum requirements for equipment.

After I do my partial i will collate the info into one posting.

Directions
1.Crack the grain bill
2.heat 1.35 L or water per kg of grain to strike temp70c
3.prepare mash tun eg esky (you can heat with some boiling water), pot (in oven or on stove)
4.Mix grain in tun with water to achieve a temp of 65-68c
5.instulate mash tun and mash for 60-90 min
6.heat 1.35L per Kg rest water to temp 70-80c (optional)
7.pour water onto mash and rest for 15 min. (optional)
8.heat 1.35L/ kg sparge water to temp 76-77c
9.strain entire grain bill with colander into pot.
10.pour wort back over grains (optional)
11.slowly sparge the grains with the sparge water into brew pot
12.top up brew pot to required volume
13.bring to boil
14.turn off flame add extract
15.bring to boil 60min
16.add hop additions
17.chill wort
18.strain into fermenter
19.top up fermenter if not doing a full volume boil

By the way I plan to do a Hefe Wiezen Dunkel as my first partial, but I will ask for recipes in another thread.


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## pint of lager

A couple of thoughts.

One of the most important items is a thermometer that is reasonably accurate. For all grain mashers a very accurate thermometer is needed, plus/minus half a degree. A partial mash is probably ok plus/minus 1-2 degrees.

Your expression of grain ratio should be water volume:1 kg grain. The half kilos can be a bit confusing, a partial mash of 1/2 a kilo grain is not going to be really meaningful, 2 kg is more suitable and that very first partial lays down good and bad habits of brewing. The ratio should be 2.5 to 1. There are very good reasons for varying this, but this is not in the realm of partial masher or new all grainer.

The ability to hit the correct strike temp for your expected mash temp is very important, most conversion happens in the first 20 minutes of mashing. Taking good notes of grain temp, grain volume, water volume, water temp and settle volume will make the next mash easier to predict. No-one expects a first mash to be perfect, and having cold and boiling (not simmering) water on hand is very important and easy to adjust the temperature. With these adjustments, the water:grain ratio will quickly blow out, this is also one reason to use the 2.5:1 rule.

The gear that people will use to partial mash will be wide and varied depending on what they buy, what they have on hand and what they can scrounge. Some people reading a thread love the format 1. add this, 2. heat this, 3. use this and get confused if too many options are offered. Others like to be more flexible in their approach.

Don't forget the basic cheesecloth for your colander. This can be pegged over a large saucepan for sparging through. A larger piece can be used in a spare fermenter, with some sort of stand off to stop it sitting on the bottom of the fermenter, it makes a cheap way of getting into partial mashing and even all grain. With a bit of insulation around the fermenter you have an instant mash and lauter tun.

How about in your final edition, you post all the links to other partial mashing information that you come across. These could be older threads from AHB as well as from other sites. 

80 degrees is a bit too high to sparge with, stick to 70-75 degrees.

Don't forget, after adding the extract to stir thoroughly to dissolve it.

Have fun with your mashing.


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## ODDBALL

Thanks for posting all this information. I am putting together all the info I can and am going to attempt my first partial when I feel confident enough to try.
Good luck with yours and thanks POL also for replying.


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## cubbie

No problems oddball,

hope it will help a few people like ourselves trying to make the next step and having trouble wading through all the info.

Cheers POL

BTW the rest water at 70-80 if for an optional "mash out"


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## Shed

Hi POL

Is 'Hot side aeration' an issue here? with all the straining through colanders and splashing of hot wort etc.
Is this something that needs to be minimised?

Cheers,
Andy


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## kungy

Shed, the answer is democratic here. The answer is "Maybe???"

Highly debatable. I would do all i could do to minimse splashing though. ie running the wort down the side of the container etc. 

I am of the view that if you can control a variable easily, the variable should be dealt with, HSA being something that can be easily dealt with

Will

Will


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## Shed

I agree Kungy,
I avoid aeration until the temp gets down to under about 26deg

What sort of 'off' taste do you get from aeration? Is that a 'grassy' taste?

Cheers,
Andy


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## kungy

I think like most things in terms of flavour and infections etc i find it hard to identify as i have no clear benchmark as none of my mates brew and i haven't entered any comps yet.

You mean HSA by aeration i assume. The overall consensus is it tastes like-

Oxidation is probably the most common problem with beer including commercial beers. If the wort is exposed to oxygen at temperatures above 80F, the beer will sooner or later develop wet cardboard or sherry-like flavors, depending on which compounds were oxidized. (www.howtobrew.com)

or 

Cardboard, paper, wet paper, sherry-like, rotten fruit, garbage are all characteristics of oxidation, perceived both as an aroma and a flavor.
(http://members.tripod.com/~mksgrist/_vti_hbart/off_flavors.html)

If you have grassy taste, http://members.tripod.com/~mksgrist/_vti_h...ff_flavors.html suggests it is due to 

Poor quality malt, poor storage of malt, cracking grains well in advance of brewing

And from other guys on this forum, dry hopping can sometimes cause this.

The second website is the best site i have found concerning off flavours. It is the only site that has a good section on nutty aromas, which i had a big problem on my first AG. Rather than a APA it was a peanut ale

Will


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## Jovial_Monk

I wouldn't worry about HSA in part mash brews--they all get drunk way b4 and staling happens

Jovial Monk


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## cubbie

Yeah not worried about HSA in a partial. really just after comments on the process here, good or bad. Of course I welcome comments about any parts of the process that may contribute to an off flavour, though only if it is a glaring issue.


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## cubbie

A few links.

http://oz.craftbrewer.org/Library/Methods/...tialMash1.shtml
http://www.grumpys.com.au/m1.php3?manualid=15
http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/My_F...-t5093-s15.html
http://www.howtobrew.com/section3/chapter18-3.html
http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...c=1331&hl=first
http://www.elogicmedia.com/homebrew/

water to grain ratio thread

http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/Wate...atio-t5470.html


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## cubbie

Updated notes on how to do a partial mash. Please remember these are purely some instruction for a relative beginner. Thanks to those who contributed both at Aussiehomebrewer and Grumpy's. If anyone spots so errors or would like to add more, go ahead and I will update as required.

*
Partial Mash Process:*

1. Crack the grain bill

2. Heat 2.5L or water per 1 kg of grain to strike temp70c

3. Prepare mash tun eg esky (you can heat with some boiling water), pot (in oven or on stove)

4. Mix grain in tun with water to achieve a temp of 65-68c

_Note: Have some cold and boiling ready to adjust mash temp_

5. Insulate mash tun and mash for 60-90 min

_Note: If using a pot you can place it in an oven set at mash temp or slightly below._

6. Optional Step - Heat 2.5 L per 1 kg rest water to temp 70-75c 

_Note: This will be the water for a Mash out_

7. Optional Step - Pour water onto mash and rest for 15 min. 

_Note: Most often called a mash out_

8. Heat 2.5L/per 1 kg of sparge water to temp 70 - 75c

9. Strain entire grain bill with colander into pot.

_Note: Could peg a cheese cloth over the pot as an alternative_

10. Optional Step - Pour wort back over grains

_Note: This is to filter the wort_

11. Slowly sparge the grains with the sparge water into brew pot
_
Note: If you brew pot is large enough you could sparge your total volume of water required for the brew. _

12. Top up brew pot to required volume

13. Bring to boil

14. Turn off flame add dry or liquid malt extract

_Note: If you are adding hopped extract a boil will destroy the hop flavours and aromas. Some people recommend to add extract (LME and DME) after the boil has finished or in the last ten minutes. You will have to account for this in your hop calculations._

15. Bring to boil 60min

16. Add hop additions

17. Chill wort

18. Strain into fermenter

19. Top up fermenter if not doing a full volume boil

*Equipment list.*

Accurate thermometer (for Partial Mash an accuracy of 1-2 degree is required, for All Grain .5 degree)

Small esky, 20l pot or bucket for mash tun

Something to strain your grain eg colander, cheese cloth

*Links:*
http://oz.craftbrewer.org/Library/Methods/Tolley/PartialMash1.shtml
http://www.grumpys.com.au/m1.php3?manualid=15
http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/My_First_All_Grain_mini_Batch-t5093-s15.html
http://www.howtobrew.com/section3/chapter18-3.html
http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=1331&hl=first
http://www.elogicmedia.com/homebrew/
http://www.jovialmonk.com.au/mashCh3.htm


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## Jovial_Monk

Just to confuse you, another link: http://www.jovialmonk.com.au/mashCh3.htm

I agree with pretty much all your steps, but recommend you don't recirculate the wort and sparge fast not slow, all to stop the wort and grains cooling off too much

Jovial Monk
NB both the manual and website as a whole not yet complete but getting there


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## cubbie

JM,

Yep I had a look at your link and it most definately deserves to be included. Noticed your temps are a little higher than mine, in fact my original temps were closer. Not to worry they are close enough.

Cubbie.


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## Pat Casey

For another partial mash method,m that's probably easier and quicker than most:

Partial Mash

Pat
Blue Mtns Brewing Supplies


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## manaen

I can vouch for Pat's quick partial mash method, I have made 3 of these now, the are dead easy and the results are great.


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## jaytee

I tried a no sparge partial after following a link from Pats message last week about his demo.

I did a partial mash stout a month or two back (my first partial and first stout) and wasn't too impressed by the results.

I thought this looked pretty idiot proof, only one lot of water to prepare etc etc and I was pretty much right. 

I buggered about getting the mash temperature right and ended up adding about 17 litres instead of 14 and I got 15 litres to boil

Also forgot the part where it says drain the wort slowly, reckon it must have run through in 2-3 minutes using a bucket in bucket tun.

What rate should I run it off at - is slower better - a litre a minute ?

The result after the boil and adding 1.5kg extract was 1.042 in 22 litres in the fermenter which I was pleasantly suprised by, I'd expected a lower extract rate.

But, it's in the barrel bubbling away happily now though and the second attempt this week should be a lot smoother and closer to what was intended !


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## TidalPete

jaytee said:


> What rate should I run it off at - is slower better - a litre a minute ?



How to Brew by John Palmer recommends a run-off rate of just under 0.95litres\minute. That's the way I go for my partials as it's good practise for AG.


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## cubbie

Yesterday I did my first partial following the instructions I put together in this thread. The instructions were great to follow and I was not caught out at any stage. (wether or not they are good instructions is another story)

This was my recipe.

I was after a Hefe Dunkel or similar.


3kg Cooper LME
500g Vienna Malt
500g Wheat Malt
250g Hoepfner Wheat
250g Thomas Fawcett Crystal wheat
150g Melanoidin
100g Carafa Special 2


45g Tettnanger 3.9% 60min Boil

Wyeast 3942 (not perfect but all I had)

Half a tab of Whirlfloc

I used 5L for my Mash and managed to hold a temp of about 66 degree for 75min. I then added about 3L water at 70 degree for a 15min rest.

It all seemed like a fair amount of water to me.

Had a little trouble lautering because my colander and second pot was a little small (need to sort something out there - bucket in bucket perhaps) and I was also heating my sparge water in my kettle. Anyway I had to transfer my wort around a bit and after transferring my sparge water around a bit I dropped it's temp from 75 down to about 65 by the end.

Not sure what my total volume was but I topped the kettle to 27L and started the boil. Took an absolute eternity to get to the boil and then only maintained a good boil with the lid on ( need a stronger burner). Hence little liquid lost in the boil and my final volume of wort was a bit much aiming for 23L and had about 26L.

The immersion chiller I had made the day before worked a treat. Chilled the wort to about 24 in just over 20min.

My SG was 1.046 at 24 degree.

My yeast starter was very good and I had some action in the fermentor only a few hours later. This morning it was going strong.


Well that was how it went. Any comments on the process or recipe, would be greatly appreciated.


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## pint of lager

Well done Cubbie, not long now and you will be enjoying your brew.

If you make a bucket in bucket, you can up the mini mash grain quantities.


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## cubbie

And up the size of my mash tun. At the moment I use about a 10L esky which is made to fit perfectly inside my larger esky.


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## cubbie

I was trying to calculate my brewhouse effeciency for the above recipe.

I dont have an exact volume of the final wort but my guess is around 26.5L I figure the 3kg of Coopers wheat LME would give me 1.036 points so my mash gave me 10 points.

So I figure I need to calculate the potenial points that my grains could give and devide 10 by that.

Can someone point me to a source which can tell me the potential for each grain? I got some from my promash eval version but not all.

cheers.


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## Steve

G'day
Planning on my first partial on the weekend. Gathering info from everywhere at the moment.
One question regarding cubbies post number 12.
At step number 12. Top up brew pot to required volume.
How do you know what the normal volume is?
Cheers
Steve


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## Steve

P.S. If it helps, my grain bill will be 2.80kg x 2.5l sparge water = 7 litres of wort ready for the boil. You wouldnt want much than that would you?
Cheers
Steve


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## cubbie

Steve,

My pot is large enough to do a full boil so i top it up to my final volume.

So if i am after a 23l batch i will go to say 26l losing about 3l in evap during the boil.

You can ignore this step. In fact i do now!

Also I use 3l water per 1kg of grain these days.


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## Steve

Cheers Cubbie. Im doing a recipe courtesy of Trough Lolly (cheers TL) and have just noticed on his promash sheet that he gave me the wort size says 12litres. So I will top up to that I presume and then do the boil.
P.S Good thread by the way.
Steve


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## cubbie

Steve,

You should be close to 12l anyway after the mash and sparge. Remember that your grain will absorb some of your mash water, there will only be a little absobtion in the grain of the sparge water.

i would probably go with 3l per Kg. That will get around 13-14 litres into the kettle and after evap you should end up with something near to 12L.

You base your hop additons on the final boil volume. I would image thats what TL has done and that is what his 12l represents.

Adding extra water into your kettle as i suggested earlier in the thread means you boil a large volume of wort which is beneficial to the beer and improves the utilisation of the hops.

Hope it all goes well and I make some sort of sence.


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## Steve

Cheers Cubbie - perfect sense. Will let you know how I go.
Steve :beer:


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## pint of lager

This thread is excellent reading for those just starting out with partials. There has been alot of discussion recently on ahb and it appears they have missed all the information here. Do some reading and research first before posting your questions. By doing lots of background reading you will cover issues you hadn't thought of. Your brew will be more likely to be perfect.

Some points that people are missing.

Mash with 2.5 litres water @74 degrees per kilo of grain in an insulated container. Strain slowly and rinse the grain with 2.5 litres @75 degrees C water per kilo of grain. Top your boiler up with water.

Watch out for boilovers.

Bittering hops are boiled for 60 minutes. Flavour hops are boiled for 10 minutes. Aroma hops are boiled for 2 minutes. After the boil, cool the wort, strain into the fermenter andpitch the yeast.

Recipes. By doing ag, just about any recipe and style is available to you to brew. Do start with an easier style such as Australian Pale ale.

Most recipes are easily converted from ag to partial, mash the specialty grains and some base grain and use extract to make up the rest of the malt.

Do a smaller partial mash, then if you like, the next brew if your gear allows, include a larger quantity of malted grain.

Relax, partial mashes allow you to experience grain flavours in your brew without the hassles of all grain brews.


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## Sammus

does the size of your mash tun matter when batch sparging?
I was thinking of trying a partial in a full size tun - I figure if one were to fly sparge there would be complications with grain bed depth etc, but batch sparging it shouldn't matter right?


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## Steve

Sammus said:


> does the size of your mash tun matter when batch sparging?
> I was thinking of trying a partial in a full size tun - I figure if one were to fly sparge there would be complications with grain bed depth etc, but batch sparging it shouldn't matter right?




Thats right Sammus.
POL - are you sure you want to mash at 74? Surely mean strike water at 74 to mash at 64?
Cheers
Steve


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## Wardhog

I did my first partial yesterday, and think I got a few things wrong.

I aimed for an APA, using 
a can of Cooper's Pale Ale hopped extract
1.8kg ale malt
.2kg Medium Crystal Malt
30g Cascade pellets

I mashed the grain in about 5L of 64C water for 90 minutes, then here's where I think I went wrong. I sparged with 5L of 70C water, by placing grain in nylon mesh bag in a colander over the kettle. Wound up with about 9-10L of wort in kettle. Should I have used more sparge water? I get the feeling the grain had more to give when it was thrown out.
I took a gravity reading of what finished up in my kettle, and it was 1.020. I boiled the contents of the kettle for 30 minutes, with 15g Cascade at 30 minutes and another 15g at flameout. Chilled, strained, and dumped into fermenter on top of Cooper's can goo, stirred until can goo felt dissolved. Then topped up to 23L and stirred again.

OG came out at 1.020. Huh?
Stirred in another .5kg of LME after this (read 1.030 after this), and pitched US-56. Brew is happily burbling, but I have no idea what % alcohol is in this thing.


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## Voosher

Wardhog said:


> I did my first partial yesterday, and think I got a few things wrong.
> 
> I aimed for an APA, using
> a can of Cooper's Pale Ale hopped extract
> 1.8kg ale malt
> .2kg Medium Crystal Malt
> 30g Cascade pellets



Some people have fantastic stories about how perfectly their first mashing adventures went. Most of us learn as we go. I won't tell the disasters of my first but I think I can make a couple of suggestions.



> I mashed the grain in about 5L of 64C water for 90 minutes, then here's where I think I went wrong. I sparged with 5L of 70C water, by placing grain in nylon mesh bag in a colander over the kettle. Wound up with about 9-10L of wort in kettle. Should I have used more sparge water? I get the feeling the grain had more to give when it was thrown out.



Next time do a batch sparge.
Pour the mash liquor through the nylon mesh and colander. 5l of water and 2kg of grain should put about 3l of wort into your kettle.
Then return the grains to your mash tun add about 3.5l of water of at least 80C (you want to bring the grain temp up to around 75C) stir and let it sit for about 15m. Then pour that through your nylon mesh and colander.
Repeat this step one more time and you should have close to 10l of wort.
You would expect an SG of around 1050 for the 10l of wort in the kettle. Don't worry too much if it falls a bit short of that. Time will hone your methods.



> <snipped>
> OG came out at 1.020. Huh?
> Stirred in another .5kg of LME after this (read 1.030 after this), and pitched US-56. Brew is happily burbling, but I have no idea what % alcohol is in this thing.



This one will be a little light on the alcohol. You won't get quite as much grain freshness either. But like the rest of us you'll have something to chuckle over when you're mashing 10kg of grain in double AG batchesin the not too distant future.
Cheers.
:beerbang:


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## Aaron

This is a link I stumbled across at instructables. It is a good tutorial for a frst time partial with probably nothing more than you already have in the house required. Contains videos too for those that like to be able to see it rather than just read about it. It's a great site for diy stuff in general so have a look around while you are there.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-Beer/


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## manticle

Pontentially dumb question so I'll avoid starting a new thread.

I've done a few partial mashes now and they're turning out nicely. Certainly the best beers I've made. However I seek to improve and I'm wondering if my sparging method is correct or close to correct.

I used to do some kind of version of a fly sparge but it was quite messy (my set-up is primitive) so now I English sparge (similar to batch sparge I think).

Basically I drain the first mashed wort, then add the same volume of 70 deg water (which I now think should be about 75) back to the tun, leave 30 mins, strain into pot and repeat. I'm usually mashing around 3 kg of grain so getting about 7-8 L with each strain. Can I oversparge? Is it better just to do one sparge and top up with hot water or am I on the right track?

Cheers


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## cubbie

Never a dumb question.

Your technique sound fine. Have a look at this link for some more info on sparging http://braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php?title...arging_Analysis
In answer to your question can you over sparge, well sort of. You can extract tannins from your mash if the sparge is too hot or (and others will be able to offer more than me) if your mash pH drops to low).

Are your sparging to get enough wort in your boil to meet your final volume?

I like to do the following. Mash, mash out, drain, add sparge water, drain. I mash at a rate of 3L/kg

so if I had 3kg of grain. I would mash with 9l water add a mash out of say 3L (enough to water to bring the mash to 75deg), drain 9L (12L - 3L absorption), then add 9l of sparge water.


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## manticle

cubbie said:


> Never a dumb question.
> 
> Your technique sound fine. Have a look at this link for some more info on sparging http://braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php?title...arging_Analysis
> In answer to your question can you over sparge, well sort of. You can extract tannins from your mash if the sparge is too hot or (and others will be able to offer more than me) if your mash pH drops to low).
> 
> Are your sparging to get enough wort in your boil to meet your final volume?
> 
> I like to do the following. Mash, mash out, drain, add sparge water, drain. I mash at a rate of 3L/kg
> 
> so if I had 3kg of grain. I would mash with 9l water add a mash out of say 3L (enough to water to bring the mash to 75deg), drain 9L (12L - 3L absorption), then add 9l of sparge water.



Thanks for the reply and thanks for the link. 

I have a new esky that's 10L (not yet used) and a smaller one (old but probably 5L?). I'm mashing between 2 and 3 kg at a time and using a ratio of 3L to 1kg. I have two pots - 1x 15L and 1 x 10 (although the 15 L was so cheap I'm looking at picking up another so I can do the boil in 2 equal parts). 

Your described method sounds similar to what I've done the last couple of times. Essentially I am aiming to hit final volume (or just under to make headroom for later addition of Malt extract) and I seem to be doing OK. I guess with partials it may not be as crucial but I'd like to cross the gap some time in 2009 so this is all good practice.


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