Mash Thickness

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Cheshire Cat

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I've just bought John Palmer book How to Brew and was interested to read he states 4L/Kg for the mash thickness. GH and GW tend to use 2.5 in their recipes. I currently use 3. Can someone explain if the thickness is significant or is it personal preference.
 
I do 4 to 4.5ltr per Kg and never have had a problem with mash etc. It does help to prevent stuck mashes and eff is good.
Try it and see much better than porridge
 
Thicker mash more fermentable wort, thinner mash of the same duration less fermentable. In theory. As a variable on its own, probably won't make much of a noticeable difference.
 
As I mash in full volume my ratio is between 6-7 litres /kg . Interesting read here.
https://www.themadfermentationist.com/2013/03/technical-notes-on-fermentability.html
I would like to do 6-7 but the config of the auto brewers usually limits you to 4-5. I always prefer to go as thin as possible. I think a smaller crush size and higher water to grain ratio increases mash efficiency more than anything.

it also speeds up the brewdays as the sparge goes much faster.
 
Until now I have been using a Peco boiler for BIAB doing 23 litre batches. I never paid much attention to what the grain to water ratio was but followed the same process every time of filling the Peco right to the brim (about 35 litres) then treating this water as required. I’d then draw off 5-6 litres of this into bottles and put aside to heat up. This was my sparge water. There was now enough space in the Peco/bag to stir in 4-5 kg grains and create a thin mash.
At the end of the mash I’d use a pulley to lift the bag out and drain whilst slowly pouring the heated sparge water over and through the bag to rinse the grains until I was about half a litre short of my Pre boil volume then squeeze the hell out of it which usually gave me the last half litre I needed. This gave me a consistent BHE of about 70%
I say until now. I’ve just bought a Brewzilla but haven’t used it yet. To be honest, I’m a bit scared of all the posts I’ve seen about stuck mashes and stuck sparges. I’ve never had any of these issues and sort of wonder if I should have just stuck with the old kit!
I think I might just use similar mash water volume with my Brewzilla as I have been with the BIAB in the hope the efficiency will be as good, if not better, if only due to the mash being recirculated constantly as opposed the the 2-3 stirs it used to get.
 
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