I have been using Beersmith to mess around with some AG recipes. To get to a 6 gallon boil the mash volume plus the sparge volume that is calculated is not even close to enough.

Do I need to add enough sparge water to bring the total volume up to 6 gallons as well as account for grain absorbtion? If I use 12 qts in the intial mash, I need to get up to 24 qts for the boil. Apparently, the grain will absorb about 5 qts so I would need to used 17 qts of sparge water to get to 6 gallons. Is this correct?

12 qts in the mash - 5 qts absorbed by grain + 17 qts sparge water = 24 qts (gallon) boil volume

I use Beersmith to calculate my strike water for my mash temps... once I drain I measure and batch sparge with the amount needed for my boil...

I have also found that due to loss from cooling, from coldbreak, and hops left in the kettle that I like to end with nothing less than 5.5 before going into fermentor... so the smallest volume I will start my boil with is 6.5(if only 60min. boil)

Ok that makes sense. I was just confused after helping my buddy with an AG batch over the weekend. I assumed Beer Smith would auto calculate all water volumes needed. Simple enough to figure it out though. So the water/grain ratio for sparging isn't that important as long as you use enough water?

Right...

goschman - you'll need to figure in the water losses whenever you transfer. If you guys are using a new set up, or a partially new set up, you should take notes on the amount of liquid transferred and lost. Also, depending on how vigorous your boil is, 6 gallons may not be enough wort to start with. I usually wind up with around 7 gallons of wort at the beginning of the boil and by the time the boil's done, I usually have around 6 gallons...but then you don't get all six gallons out of the BK, because of the Trub, location of the valve, etc. That'll knock it down to around 5.25/5.5 gallons.

Also, in Beersmith, you can and should set up the profile for your equipment. That way you don't have to keep messing with the water and temperature calculations.

Good luck!

Thanks guys. I was actually brewing with a buddy to see AG done first hand. He obviously had his system down... We did a 10 gallon batch and I remember him saying that he usually likes to end up with 11 gallons or so because of loss to trub and whatever else.

I am ready to make the jump myself but don't know if I have enough money right now . I have a converted 10 gallon igloo cooler for a MLT but I still need a burner, a bigger kettle, and a wort chiller. It's probably going to be the kettle that holds me up. Right now my kettle is probably only about 4-5 gallons so not enough for a full volume boil.

I have been thinking about doing partials with just enough grain to get my boil volume to 3 gallons. I can make up the rest of the gravity with some LME...

here is a great deal on a 75 QT pot for you...

http://cgi.ebay.com/75qt-COMMERCIAL-STAINLESS-STEEL-STOCK-POT-/320583487569?pt=Cookware&hash=item4aa443d051

thanks WA that is a great deal. I have been looking at aluminum just becuase of the price but I know stainless is the way to go...

I read somewhere that you can boil in two pots so long as you split your hops and any boiled ingedients apropriately...not sure how triue that is.

Don't fear aluminum.

I wish more programs auto-calc'd the water volume.