Losing track of mash/sparge volume

[CampAjohn]

I did a 5 gal. IPA last Saturday. I mashed 11.5 pounds of grain in a cooler, starting with 3 gal. mash water, and came in a bit too high, so added ~1 gal. of cold water to get to my 155 F target. Conversion took more than an hour, so I added 1 gal. of some 180F sparge water early to maintain the 155F. I measure my sparge water with a .5gal pyrex measuring "cup." I sparged with an additonal 4 gallons, and ended up with 7.5 gallons of wort. My target was 6.5. Somerwhere along the way I must have lost track of the water volume. When I looked at my notes, I may have used more like 8.5 gallons for mash and sparge. I don't have a separate hot liquor tank, I use my boil kettle to heat the mash and sparge water. I use a "dip stick" to measure the volumes in the boil pot.

So, short of simply being more mindful of the quantities of water I am adding to mash and sparge, is there a "technique" that might help me do this?

[danno]

I always make a lot of sparge water (way more than I need) and simply watch my ending volume, and sparge until I have 12 gallons. then, I have a couple of gallons of hot water laying around... the only issue with this method is my grain bed doesn't really get drained, so my spent grain dog biscuits take forever to dry out in the dehydrator...

[CampAjohn]

Thanks, Danno. I did have a bucket with a 6.5 gal mark on it collecting my runoff. But then I decided to do a .75 gal. decoction to raise the temp toward the end of the sparge, and may have lost track of the total volume at that point.

Your advice to just keep an eye on the total volume seems to imply that adding sparge water slowly is important, especially as you approach your target volume. Brewing is teaching me to be more patient! I can always do a longer/stronger boil to get back to my batch volume, but that takes time...another opportunity to get more patient! Often I am up against dinner time, darkness or both by the end of brew day.

[danno]

decoctions are all done pre-lautering anyways, so what difference does it make? you still sparge (fly or batch) with a specific wort volume goal in mind, so sparge water quantity isn't really an issue, unless you don't have enough...

I think you should consider getting another container to store your sparge water, perhaps another cooler, since it will maintain temps much better than a bucket... (I'm guessing you have limited heating capacity...)

[CampAjohn]

Right Danno, I have a single propane burner and use my converted Sankey keg as both hot liquor tank and boil pot. I like the idea of storing hot water in a "cooler."

[HogieWan]

Originally posted by CampAjohn
Right Danno, I have a single propane burner and use my converted Sankey keg as both hot liquor tank and boil pot. I like the idea of storing hot water in a "cooler."

what I used to do is heat my sparge water to 190 in my mash tun (you could use your kettle) and put it in a rectangular cooler. Then I heat the strike water and mash as normal. I've found that by the time I needed the sparge water it was right at 170.

[BrewDog]

John-

I have an HLT for ya.

Call me.

[MichaelM]

there ya go problem solved!

[rexeisenberg]

Originally posted by danno
I always make a lot of sparge water (way more than I need) and simply watch my ending volume, and sparge until I have 12 gallons. then, I have a couple of gallons of hot water laying around... the only issue with this method is my grain bed doesn't really get drained, so my spent grain dog biscuits take forever to dry out in the dehydrator...

Maybe a little off the topic, but how do you make your dog bisquits??? i never thought or heard of doing that.

[Mill Rat]

Originally posted by rexeisenberg
Maybe a little off the topic, but how do you make your dog bisquits??? i never thought or heard of doing that.
Check for the recipe under homebrewing-recipes.