All Grain First Timer...

[sunners1]

Hi all,
Ready to conquer the world of AG, I've done quite a few kits but not been too happy with the extract taste that I feel is in all kits.
I'm hoping to try the Malt Miller Son of a Punkie for my first brew, so a few questions...

1. How much water do I use for my Malts, 60min at 66.2 degrees
2. Brewing in a bag so should I set some water aside for a sparge
3. I have a Peko Electrim Mashing Bin, should i attempt in this or make a tun out of a cool box. Main concern is the element burning the bag.

That's it for now

 

[MmmBeer]

1. Allow approx 2.5 litres per kg of grain for mashing.
2. Assuming it's a 23l (5 gallon) kit, allow about 31L minus your mash water quantity for sparging. Presumably this will just be a dunk sparge.
3. At mashing temps, you should be okay, just maintaining temperature. Remove the grain bag before raising to boiling point.

Have fun!

 

[sunners1]

https://www.themaltmiller.co.uk/product/robs-recipes-son-of-punkie-ipa-recipe-kit/

The kit is for 19litres and includes 5kg of malt, so if I do a mash in say 10l then pour the remainder 2.5l as a sparge? I’m then assuming I top up with cold for the boil.

Thanks for the help

 

[cushyno]

The grain will soak up some water and more will be evaporated during the boil.

For a 23l batch I usually use 31L of water, of which 15L is strike water and goes into the mash. This gives 3L/kg and works fine for me. The remaining 16L is sparge water. You'll be needing roughly 4L less, so you would need approximately 12L of sparge water.

If you only have the Peco boiler for heating water you have a few options:

1. Full volume BIAB (no sparge) - heat all 27L to the right temperature and mash in. You won't be doing a sparge. This may be too much volume for your Peco once the grain is added.
2. Heat all your water for mash temperature (it will be somewhere around 75deg C before mashing as the grain cools it down). Drain 12L off into your FV, wrap in towels to keep it hot as possible. Do your mash in the Peco. Then lift out the bag and batch sparge by dunking in the FV (dunk sparge).
3. Heat only the strike water for mashing, do your mash in the Peco, then lift the bag, suspend over the Peco and pour cold (or hot tap) water through the bag to wash the grains, letting this sparge water drain into the Peco.

Water volumes and temperatures are tricky to calculate exactly, so I don't bother, I use Brewers Friend to work it all out for me. There are allowances for temperature of the grain and water volume losses due to process. You shouldn't expect much loss when doing BIAB.

My process uses a coolbox to mash in and I know I always have to add 5degC to the strike and sparge water temperature due to heat loss to the coolbox. Everyone's system/process is slightly different, so you'll need to experiment and be prepared to adjust with boiling or cold water to raise our lower your mash temp on the fly the first time you do it.

If you use a large volume of water for mashing it will hold temperature better than a smaller amount. Someone more competent than me could explain about thermal mass...

Good luck. It's great having a dabble and experimenting with what works for you. There'll be no turning back once you've done a couple and got the hang of it!