What's the most grain you have done in a batch?

I just got beersmith and was working on a recipe and I'm beginning to think I won't have enough room to make this batch!! It's 6.66# of grain and beersmith says I need 4.62 gallons of water to start with. That when added to the grain gives me 5.14 gallons of space I need. It won't fit!!

Brewsmith is giving me more of a boil off rate than I really have and they have cooling loss so I just need to figure out how to adjust that i think.

Cooling loss will happen. Wort, water...they all expand when heated.

If you find yourself running out of room, you can always use another pot to sparge with.

Or even pour off some of the wort into a smaller pot just to make room, then add some sparge water and heat things back up (stirring constantly). Then, if need be, you boil it in that separate pot. Or, if you have room after pulling your grains, boil all of it in your brew pot.

no sparge on this one, all the water will be there from the start.

i thought cooling loss was if you used a CFC or plate chiller or something.

I guess for any larger batches I could just do a smaller amount of water and do a sparge to get to total volume. That would work.

do you listen to any brewing network podcasts and/or know who Tasty McDole is? well he is a home brew stud, and he admitted to mashing with the EXACT same amount of water no matter what the grain bill was! and I am 99% sure he typically does 10 gallons

and his stuff is LEGIT! some of his recipes have been brewed on the pro level too. his logic: it's home brew! you are seriously going to sweat "being off" a bit with your mash water? hitting 152° instead of 154°?

ever since I heard that, I have been mashing "no sparge" (my call, not his) with 4.25 gallons to end up around 2.8 after the boil, leaving about 2.4 to go into the LBK. I have not noticed any "off" anything, and I consistently hit 70-75% efficiency. so I base my recipes on 72% and leave myself only being a tad disappointed or a bit extra happy.

that being said, I am contemplating a Russian Imperial Stout and an IIPA this brew year...so they would be the biggest by far.

but to actually answer your question I have done just shy of 7 pounds up to this point...I did this twice. 1 clocked in at 70% eff, and the other was actually 80%...and both beers were very good!

interesting natty. I may try just 4.25 gallons on this and see where I get eff and volume wise. thanks!!

I guess I don't know why folks do the BIAB stuff. Building a mash tun is pretty cheap, say $60.

about 1/3 of the way down, there's a "Can I Mash It?" volume calculator... might help figure out capacity...
http://rackers.org/calcs.shtml/

space. the wife and i live in a two bedroom townhouse. no basement. one storage closet in the hallway. needless to say, there's pretty much no space to store anything anywhere... between some of my brewing stuff, her teaching/classroom stuff, craft stuff, clothes... we're full up. no room for the traditional full size all grain set up. i have two mash tuns, actually... both in my parent's basement back in pittsburgh.

yeah, that thing says I can't mash it either lol.

really wondering about my upcoming SMaSHes, both were going to have 7.5# of malt each. I may just do 4 gal of water and see what happens.

maybe heat the strike water in a separate pot... then add the grains to your brew kettle, and pour the strike water on top of the grains until the pot is full? mash thickness is pretty much a non issue, so no need to worry about that... just a thought, i guess.

Why cant you top off with water AFTER the mash? You dont HAVE to have the full volume

sometimes the simplest solution is best. great idea HI!!

2 things: first, there is nothing that says you can't top off, but you are going to be diluting your beer. so maybe add a few more grains to raise the OG prior to topping off? but if the concern is kettle space, that may be counter productive

and second, that $60 for an "Actual" tun is at least 3, more like 4 AG batches! until I move and get to have a brew shed (not that I have plans for such a thing...), the space is also I priority...I can make a dang good beer, in a relatively short amount of time, with the smallest amount of equipment needed...right there in my kitchen, without ticking the wifey off too much!

it is kind of like saying "I don't get why you would use a plastic mini keg and some extract when you can buy a carboy and some grains." now I know you weren't being malicious BK, but it didn't come off great. and yes, I am probably just a whiny little b--ch!

I wan't try to be a D!ck, I was just wondering why folks do BIAB. A mash tun is cheap and easy to store, so I couldn't figure out why guys wanted to avoid one. I have a total of 1250 sq ft in my entire house, that includes 3 bedrooms, 1.5 bathrooms, a living room, eat-in kitchen, and a laundry room. I have no garage and a shed that houses a lot of my equipment, but an old love seat along with my mower.

Sorry if anybody was offended by my ignorance.

None taken

I look forward to breaking out my tuns again once we have the space. But for now, BIAB works wonderfully... Going to be hard to give it up.

For me, it's also about efficiency, ease of use and safety to some extent. I tried the igloo cooler mashing before BIAB. There is a bit more transfer of hot liquid when using the cooler. With BIAB, I put my kettle on the stove, add all the water, and there it sits until the end of the boil (or beyond). It's also easy to add heat if I want to raise my mash temp. I find cleaning a paint strainer bag much easier than the cooler.

So, BIAB works well for me for several reasons and I prefer it to mashing in a cooler. Possible uses of $60:
- 50 lb sack of grain and a grain mill
- 50 lb sack of grain and 10+ lb other grain
Either way, that's a bit of beer.

So, it's not that I avoided a cooler, but that I prefer BIAB.

btw - for those wanting to try all-grain brewing, BIAB is a good approach.

we know that man, and you are FAR from ignorant. you've been a big part of this community since you signed up.

agreed. no worries man.

I like the fact that BIAB cost me $2.50. :P

Anyway pretty much everything suggested is a good idea, I don't have anything to add, I just like looking at my avatar after I post stuff.

we all do!

like looking at YOUR avatar I mean

I enjoy looking at your avatar as well.

It would have cost me more to do traditional BiaB since I would have had to buy a bigger pot. I went from 5 gallon full boil extract to 5 gallon all grain. I guess I could have used two pots and did a sparge or dunk. Or I could have done smaller batches. But if I'm taking the time to do an AG batch I would just as soon do a 5 gallon, takes the same amount of time. I have heard the same argument about 10 gallon batches. I know many people like the variety of 2.5 - 3 gallon batches.
That's one of the great things about this hobby; it's easy to personalize your setup around your equipment and your wants/needs. We're all going to the same place, but there are many different paths to get there.

I recently thought I was going to have to spring for another $2 "mash tun". I then remembered that my Lowes purchase was 2 for $3, so I was able to use the backup.

(Sorry, but I have no idea what your avatar looks like)

is your "tun" the paint strainer? or does lowes have cooler stupid cheap hiding out somewhere weird like in the gardening area?

Yup, he's talking about the 5G paint strainer bags.

Mnnn look at that handsome fella, so lifelike.

I biab because of the simplicity. I already had a 7.5 gallon turkey fryer. I went and bought the paint strainers and went from an extract brewer to an all grain for 5 bucks.

As I slowly upgrade my gear I will prolly have a mash tun someday, but for now I will continue to make great tasty beer in my strainer bag.