Wee heavy mash ratio question

[ProSparky]

Curious what a good mash thickness number to shoot for is with wee heavies. I just read it's advantageous to perform a long boil which will boil off some water which is actually great news for my setup which works better with more water in the mash.

Any kind of ideas or experiences of what I want would be great.

Here is the recipe I'm working on ATM:
Wee wEE

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

Curious what a good mash thickness number to shoot for is with wee heavies. I just read it's advantageous to perform a long boil which will boil off some water which is actually great news for my setup which works better with more water in the mash.

Any kind of ideas or experiences of what I want would be great.

Here is the recipe I'm working on ATM:
Wee wEE

your mash thickness is really related to your set up and how you brew, like if you sparge or fly sparge or bib, all setups can be different

 

[HighVoltageMan!]

A standard ratio of 1.5 quarts per pound will work fine, but if you are running out of space and you think you could save some volume in the mash tun, then 1.25 will work as well. There is a thought that mash ratios will effect the final product, but I haven't notice any difference. If you recirculating your mash, the stiff mash ratios become a little tougher to deal with. The key is to have liquor covering the grain bed at all times, for obvious reasons.

 

[Donoroto]

I agree, the mash thickness has more to do with your equipment setup.

Your recipe looks OK, but 21 pounds of grain for a 5 gallon batch is a lot, as reflected in the high original gravity. Not a problem, as long as it fits!

For that heavy of a beer, I strongly recommend either two packs of yeast or a 2 liter starter.

The boil might be something longer than an hour to drop 9 gallons to 5.5. If you can go with a little bit thicker mash, you could save some boil time. On my system it would be a 3 hour boil...

Just my two cents' worth.

 

[ProSparky]

Room is not a problem. My tun and kettle are kegs. Like i said it's actually easier to run with more water because with K-Rims I'm always recirculating the mash and keeping the heating element covered can be tricky.
I just need to figure out how to work my water levels in a way where I'm not left with too much left over. Thing is, if i leave the lids on, i hardly lose anything and the house doesn't get foggy, lol. But i can easily boil off water leaving the lids off, i just have to rehang the wallpaper when I'm done.
Maybe a few more batches in this new brewery of mine and I won't have to ask stupid questions.

 

[Donoroto]

Room is not a problem. My tun and kettle are kegs. Like i said it's actually easier to run with more water because with K-Rims I'm always recirculating the mash and keeping the heating element covered can be tricky.
I just need to figure out how to work my water levels in a way where I'm not left with too much left over. Thing is, if i leave the lids on, i hardly lose anything and the house doesn't get foggy, lol. But i can easily boil off water leaving the lids off, i just have to rehang the wallpaper when I'm done.
Maybe a few more batches in this new brewery of mine and I won't have to ask stupid questions.

The boil also removes some things you would like to remove from your wort, besides water. Diacetyl is one: do some research on why you should only boil with no lid.

 

[ProSparky]

I'm glad you reminded me of that.

 

[dmtaylor]

Mash thick, sparge much more than normal, boil longer than normal.