Mash/sparge Water

[braufrau]

Thanks for eveeyones input. Screwtop is giving me a hand outside this thread, so Im sure it will all work out, whether I brew for a 23L batch, or reduce the grain/hop for a 17L batch only.

Not wanting to reopen the 'cool in the brewpot' thing again now that braufrau and Postmodern have kissed and made up. But if you were going to leave it in your brewpot to chill, wouldnt it be just as easy to transfer the hot wort straight into the sterilised fermenter, cool, aerate and pitch yeast. I assumed the point of the cube is not only for blokes without chillers, but letting the wort cool with no air in the cube to contaminate. The pot has an air space above, so wouldnt the fermenter be better than the pot as you can seal it? Almost same as putting in an oversize cube.

Well ... the fermenter also has an air space and a little hole for the airlock and its plastic.
The kettle and the air above it has been pretty well sterilised by boiling, its stainless and as it cools the seal on the lid should be pretty reasonable. Then u transfer to the fermenter and pitch the yeast which, hopefully, overwhelms any stray bugs ... it seems a tad safer that way. But having said that plenty of people transfer to the fermenter, think "oops its not cool enough!" and leave it overnight with no ill effects which all just makes me think wort is more robust than we realise!

 

[warra48]

Pplenty of people transfer to the fermenter, think "oops its not cool enough!" and leave it overnight with no ill effects which all just makes me think wort is more robust than we realise!

And I do exactly that. After chilling in the kettle, I transfer to the fermenter. Usually it is still 25C or slightly higher. I just whack gladwrap on top of the fermenter, put it in the fridge until it is down to pitching temp, and and then whack the yeast in.

To get back on topic of mash/sparge water, I only have a 25 litre mash tun.
I usually mash in with a 2.3 l/kg ratio for about 5 kg grain on avarage. I do a mash out with 90C water to the capacity of the mash tun.
Then I drain, and usually have to batch sparge twice to get my pre-boil volume of 30 litres.
Efficiency into the kettle is usually over 90%, so I'm happy with it.