New to brewing

[Vallka]

Hello All,
I'm new to brewing, did a bit 30yrs ago but things have changed a bit now!
I have a batch in the carboy right now, it is a ESB from an extract/grains recipe.
I want the next one to be all grains, have found a couple Amber Ale recipes that look good. So I have a few questions.
When I Mash my grains how do I know how much water to add to them?
When I sparge do I sparge until I have topped up the wort to the batch size?
I think thats it....................for now

Thanks for you time and your help

 

[Nosybear]

Hello All,
I'm new to brewing, did a bit 30yrs ago but things have changed a bit now!
I have a batch in the carboy right now, it is a ESB from an extract/grains recipe.
I want the next one to be all grains, have found a couple Amber Ale recipes that look good. So I have a few questions.
When I Mash my grains how do I know how much water to add to them?
When I sparge do I sparge until I have topped up the wort to the batch size?
I think thats it....................for now

Thanks for you time and your help

Wow. That's a lot to answer in one post! My recommendation would be to find a reliable recipe from a reputable source, say BYO or Zymurgy. Those sources generally tell you how much water at what temperature to use for mashing and sparging. If you want to go it alone, the tools on this site are fairly easy to use. My real recommendation is to go out and get a copy of John Palmer's "How to Brew" and read it before embarking on all grain brewing. It has simple procedures as well as the engineering behind them. And good luck!

 

[GFHomebrew]

And you could find a local all grain homebrewer to show you their craft? I'm sure they'd be happy to lend you some Insite into Allgrain wort extraction and all. Good luck you all ready do partial mash it's just like that but more grain and mash temp and getting the right volumes.

 

[jmcnamara]

In case you can't get out to get that book or talk to anyone before your next batch, mashing with about 1.25 quarts per pound of grain will probably serve you well in most cases, at least to get started. You want the mash to be a little soupy oatmeal
For sparging, it depends on how much you can boil. If you can do a full volume boil, you'd sparge with enough water to get that volume, taking into account the water that the grain absorbs. If you can't (like me), sparge with an amount that you're comfortable boiling (with no boilovers). You can always top off with some clean water afterwards.

Depending on the style you're brewing and your equipment, you'll need to tweak things a bit, but that should get you going

Good luck!

 

[Vallka]

Thanks to you all.
I got the John Palmer's "How to Brew (kindle) and half way through.....great book, good call on that.
I have the equipment to brew full 23l (5.5gal) batches or bigger (I made a couple kettles from old kegs 15gal, I built a couple propane burners that are crazy, a Mash/Lauter Tun with sparge arm in a cooler, so I'm setup.........just have to figure out what I'm doing now!!!)