Mash Water Volume

About this calculator

Strike water is the hot water a homebrewer mixes with crushed grain to start the mash, and its volume is calculated from the grain weight and a chosen water-to-grain ratio — commonly expressed as quarts per pound (or liters per kilogram), with 1.25 to 1.5 qt/lb (roughly 2.6 to 3.1 L/kg) being the typical range for a standard single-infusion mash.

Getting this ratio right matters because a “thin” mash (more water) favors beta-amylase activity and produces a more fermentable wort for a drier beer, while a “thick” mash (less water) favors alpha-amylase and leaves more unfermentable sugars for a fuller body — homebrewing software like BeerSmith and Brewer’s Friend build their entire mash-water and sparge-water calculations around this same ratio, and brewers also need it to make sure the mash tun doesn’t overflow or leave dry pockets of grain that fail to convert. The strike water temperature itself is calculated separately (usually higher than the target mash temp, since the grain absorbs heat), but the volume calculation here is the step that comes first.

Enter your grain weight and chosen ratio, and this calculator returns the strike water volume you need to add to hit that ratio.