Mash water to grain ratio

[Top Cat]

Good evening brewers.
I've been given a recipe that appears rather low in water ref water/grain ratio. This being 2.5 litres to 1kg of grain. I generally go for about 3 litres adding a little more (hot or cold) to give me my mashing temperature in my mashing.
The help I could do with is..what does the difference make to the mash when different ratios are used, as I'm assuming it must affect the brew some way.
It's better for me to use more water if I could as I prefer to batch sparge/ rinse by adding a little more water to the grains after the mash is complete stir, drain and complete with the remaining sparge water to my pre boil volume.
Any thoughts /observations?

[Eric]

Thin mashes contain more starch and fewer fermentable sugars than thick mashes at the same temperature.
2.5 litres to 1 kg grain is a more typical British standard while 3 litres to 1 kg is more typical in North America.
I mash with 2.5 litres per kg of grain.

[Top Cat]

That makes sense Eric, as after a 25 year sabbatical of brewing having started again, I read Mr Palmers book of how to brew to refresh my memory, typically he gives the American ratio, so I think dropping it is a good idea, as generally I brew british ales.

[Eric]

That makes sense Eric, as after a 25 year sabbatical of brewing having started again, I read Mr Palmers book of how to brew to refresh my memory, typically he gives the American ratio, so I think dropping it is a good idea, as generally I brew british ales.

At low mash temperatures, liquor ratio makes little difference, but at higher temperatures and liquor volumes, the difference can be substantial.

Yes, most of the present day information on brewing comes from North America, understandable really with it taking off when it was well established in UK with less demand here for basic knowledge. I see a trend on some American forums to explore British brewing methods, but they have a lot of hurdles to overcome.

[Kev888]

2.5L/kg is about right for me in a traditional 3-vessel sparged system, too. I have (due to mash tun capacity) needed to mash thicker in the past, which is okay but progressively more difficult to mash in, and after a point seems to reduce efficiency. Some people find a thinner 3.0L/kg ratio beneficial with recirculating systems for practical reasons, but it doesn't seem to gain anything in a simple infusion and of course reduces liquor available for sparging (unless one over-sparges).

Things can be different for other methods. Kettle-RIMS and one-pot systems (braumeister, grainfather etc) need extra mash liquor to cover kettle elements and flood grain pipes and hoses etc. and even full-volume mashing has become more popular with BIAB and some methods of using Braumeisters. They have different advantages and disadvantages, but their mash ratios aren't necessarily appropriate for 3-vessel sparged systems.

[Hanglow]

The German brewers tend to mash thin too. And as mentioned of course BIAB brewers do as well

If my mash tun was big enough, I think I'd probably go no sparge and just add that little bit extra grain to account for any loss in efficiency