raptorvan

Recipes 

so with my new kettle, im boiling off about 2 gallons for the hour. so how do i make up for this? do i add an extra gallon of water or should i run it thru my mash tun to collect anything left over? i know over rinsing can cause astringency from taking too much of the stuff out of the grains....at east thats the rumor.

at this point a lid isnt really an option as the top of the keggle appears to be larger than any lids i have at home so i will have to make my own at some point.

ChadChaney

Recipes 

All grain I assume? Maybe reduce the gas flow to a slightly less vigorous boil? if you have BeerSmith or something similar, you can adjust this and it will correct the volumes for you.

evwoller

Recipes 

Do you turn down the heat once you reach the boil? I mean water can only be at maximum 212* (adjust for gravity, etc), but you still can boil more of it away per time.

I am a bit drunk but that is the first thing that comes to mind with water boiling away super quick. The other option is to add more water I guess...

Rubes

Recipes 

I had the same problem, I boiled off 2.5 gallons in an hour. Fortunately my gravity was kind of high so I was able to add a gallon of water to get to the volume I wanted and close enough to my target SG. Next time I added an extra gallon of water to the pot (BIAB) and it was fine.

Chris1272

Recipes 

A couple solutions
1 just collect more wort when you sparge to adjust for the increased boil off.
2 adjust the volume in the kettle to acomodate boil off
3 use a make shift lid I know a guy that just puts a pizza pan on top of his keggle.
4 turn down the heat to get a less vigorous boil.
5 any combination of the above.

ReDim

Recipes 

A lid does not have to be round, some sheet metal from HomeDepot or lowes... but don't put it on during the boil, put it on while heating to the boil.

Personally I would not look at this a problem at all. Just new means to my calculations. After sparging I have collected 7.5 gallons and thus 4.9 is going into my fermenter.

Ok, The first time with new equipment I would add more water to the boil if possible. After that I would adjust my calculations...

I think more people do higher gravity and thus do not have this problem, but I am sure there is a measurable point to over sparging... How do you test or measure the point of over-sparge? If I am doing a lower then average gravity I would add more water... 10lb - 8.5 gallons (1.5 quart to mash and 2 quarts to sparge ) sounds like an average volumes to me... But I would expect to get 10 gallons of pre-boil wort from 10lbs of grain without fearing over-sparging...

Any takes on what is to much?

usfmikeb

Recipes 

I would advocate #2 or #4, although if you're confident you're maintaining a good pH when sparging, you could also do #1.

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Primary: Apfelwein 2.04, Peach Pyment 2.05, Chocolate Stout 2.20
Secondary: Douglah Capsicumel 10.29, Chocolate Mead 10.29, Bochet Mead 11.12, Cranberry Mead 11.24
Bottle Conditioning: Spiced Mead 5.30, Peach Mango Mead 7.09
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LKABrewer

Recipes 

You do not boil off sugar, just water. The best way to do this:

1. Calculate how many points you want in your finished beer. If I am making 5 gallons of wort @ 1.060, that is 300 points.
5 x 60 = 300

2. Sparge until you get your points. If I am at 6 gallons and have 1.050 wort, I'm done.
6 x 50 = 300!

3. Add water to account for boil off. If I know that I need 8 gallons pre-boil for my system, I will add 2 gallons of water. This water is just going to boil off anyway, so you are not watering down your wort.

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Rockape66

Recipes 

The astringency you're talking about probably comes from too high a temp in your sparge water. Lower your sparge temp and increase volume to match your boil off. This should give you better efficiency, and get the results you are looking for.

BrewMU

Recipes 

Two things - ph and wort gravity. If you keep your sparge water under 170 F, all you have to worry about is keeping ph under~ 5.6, and to stop collecting wort when you get under 1.010 (some say 1.008). A refrac really helps with that. I do my figuring up front, then collect down to 1.010 - if I need to I boil down, and if I get more wort or higher gravity than I'd planned, I keep it in mind next time up.