Mash water quantity

[BlightyBrewer]

I'm probably going to do my first AG this w/e. Regarding the mash, what quantity of water should I dough in with? Is there a rule of thumb (i.e. litres/kg grain)?

Any other hints and tips on mashing would be greatly appreciated.

[BlightyBrewer]

So I'll need approx 9.4L of water for the mash, and 13.6L for sparging. This of course doesn't take account of the water soaked up by the grain, so the sparge quantity will probably be higher?

[Andy]

I went for 2.5 L/kg and you get a good mash consistency, not too watery so thermal retention should be good.

Oh, sparge quantity will be much more than that for a 23L brew. Budget for an equivalent sparge quantity to that of the final volume. I now collect additional wort after the boiler is full and use this to top up the boiler as evaporation reduces the boil volume.

[BlightyBrewer]

What temp do you strike at andy?

[Andy]

I use http://www.promash.com/ to calculate the strike temp

Features like strike temp calculation are always available in the free version.