Ideal l\kg mash ratio for double IPA

[Rusty Shackleford]

Hi all, I'm about to embark on the world of all-grain brewing. First up it's a double IPA, around the 10%ABV mark. I've been looking at other people's water-to-grain ratios for the initial mash and most come out at roughly 2.5 - 3 litres to every kilo of grain. In my case that's roughly 15 litres on 5 kilos of grain. Does this sound about right?
Thanks

 

[Clint]

Yes.

 

[foxbat]

That's a big OG target for a first brew so don't be surprised if you miss and it comes in lower than you expect.

 

[Clint]

...and you fall over.

 

[strange-steve]

5kg of grain is a bit light for a 10% beer so I'm assuming this is a small batch?

Mash thickness is a fairly minor detail in the grand scheme of things and because this is a big beer, as foxbat says efficiency will suffer. So I would suggest aiming for a thicker mash, about 2L/kg which will give you a bigger sparge volume which will bump up your efficiency a little.

Another thing I would recommend for big brews like this is to keep a bag of DME handy (or even table sugar would be fine in a Dipa) to boost the OG if required. As a rule of thumb 2g of sugar per litre increases gravity by 1 point.

 

[Keruso]

Hi all, I'm about to embark on the world of all-grain brewing. First up it's a double IPA, around the 10%ABV mark. I've been looking at other people's water-to-grain ratios for the initial mash and most come out at roughly 2.5 - 3 litres to every kilo of grain. In my case that's roughly 15 litres on 5 kilos of grain. Does this sound about right?
Thanks

Hi, my grainfather instructions include a mash water calculator, for 5kg grain the calculator suggests 17 litre mash water. As Steve suggests 10% ABV is high. Most recipes would tell need you to add extra corn sugar/dextrose/DME to get this ABV as you may not have a big enough kettle to take all that grain, unless you going to make a small batch.

 

[Rusty Shackleford]

Thanks so much for the replies. Sorry, should have mentioned I'm only making 13 litres.