Was thinking of a 2.5L/kg mash liquor volume and how thick the resultant mash will be.
Does anyone use a specific mash paddle for doughing in or just a big spoon ? Remember someone mentioning using a wooden spoon fitted in a power drill chuck ?
At 2.5L/kg will it be 'stirable' with a big spoon by hand ?
Grist/liquor ratio and doughing in
Yeah, I do use the heater during mashing. I generally leave the variac set to about 20% voltage to compensate for the heat loss. Mind you, my mash tun isn't all that well insulated. It just has a single layer of insulation tied round it (it's one of those old barrel coolers that you used to be able to get from Boots - which were crap at cooling the barrel!).
The idea of controlling pH by water/grist ratio came from the Wheeler CAMRA book. Before I read that, I had been led to believe that mash stiffness affected the balance of the wort; however, Wheeler makes the point that it's a very minor factor compared to having the correct pH, so it's worth sacrificing to get the pH right. Hope that makes sense.
My doughing in tool is a large flat HB paddle. I wouldn't have thought a drill was a good idea; you don't want to break up the grain husks too much. Gentleness is the order of the day, I would think. B)
The idea of controlling pH by water/grist ratio came from the Wheeler CAMRA book. Before I read that, I had been led to believe that mash stiffness affected the balance of the wort; however, Wheeler makes the point that it's a very minor factor compared to having the correct pH, so it's worth sacrificing to get the pH right. Hope that makes sense.
My doughing in tool is a large flat HB paddle. I wouldn't have thought a drill was a good idea; you don't want to break up the grain husks too much. Gentleness is the order of the day, I would think. B)