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blackwaterbrewer · 01-08-2009, 12:31 AM

any mead tips? yeast, aging, fermnt temp., boiling/pasturizing?

axoll · 04-03-2009, 02:56 AM

one question, i am a beginner at all grain, i am using a 5 gallon gatorade cooler. after the 1 hour mash, do I stir the grains and wort before or just leave it the way it is and start sparging? so far i am just leaving it the way it is.
this is how i am sparging: after i reciculate about 2 quarts of wort i open the valve a lttle bit and using a plastic measuring cup i slowly pour 185 degree water on top of a coffee lid . I took about 30 min to finish sparging with 5 gallons......any suggestions?

nyctreasure · 04-10-2009, 04:51 PM

Great post shared. Kudos to the topic creator. Keeep such type of suggestions flowing in. I did stumbled on 3AG sessions until I came here. Indeed it helped me a lot.

lanedavis · 04-16-2009, 06:15 AM

Quote:

2. Heat your strike water about 2 or 3 degrees above your target temp

Great article. I would note that I use John Palmer's formula for initial strike temperatures and I think it's worked fairly well for me. Actually I've been pretty amazed by how acurate it is:

Tw = (.2/r)(T2 - T1) + T2

Where:

Tw = Strike temperature
r = grain/mash water ratio (e.g., 1, 1.25, etc)
T2 = Target mash temperature (e.g., 152)
T1 = Starting grain temperature (e.g., 70)

I take a grain temperature reading, and plug the numbers in. It works pretty well. Also, if doing step mashing there's Palmers' formula for calculating water volume:

Wa = (T2 - T1)(.2G + Wm)/(Tw - T2)

Where (variables used above are still in play), and:

Wa = Quarts of boiling water required to raise to next step.
G = Pounds of grain in the mash
Wm = Quarts of water already in the mash
Tw = The temperature of the infusion water (Fahrenheit)

st0neski · 06-01-2009, 05:20 PM

i have a question about the amounts of water used. Say I am brewing a 5 gallon batch, which calls for around 12 pounds of grain. For the mashing, that means I have 15 quarts of water or 3.75 gallons. Then it says I need 1/2 gallon per pound of grain for the sparging, that means 6 gallons of water. So 6 gallons for sparging plus the 3.75 gallons from the mash, is 9.75 gallons of water. Obviously after the mash and sparging I wont have the full 9.75 gallons in my brew pot, but it won't be much less. Do I then boil that ~9.75 gallons down to 5 gallons of water before I put it in the fermenter? That seems like it would take a long time to boil down to me. Am I missing something?

Denny · 06-01-2009, 05:21 PM

You won't get 3.75 gal. from the mash because the grains will absorb some. However, by the sparge the grains are saturated, so the amount of sparge water you put in is the amount you'll get out.

st0neski · 06-01-2009, 05:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Denny

You won't get 3.75 gal. from the mash because the grains will absorb some. However, by the sparge the grains are saturated, so the amount of sparge water you put in is the amount you'll get out.

makes sense, so what are we talking like a gallon or 2 from the mash? plus the 6 from the sparging, 7-8 gallons, boiling that down to 5?

**masonsjax** · 06-01-2009, 05:52 PM

I'm still working out my system. I'm no expert, having just 2 batches under my belt, but here's what I've found. If you try to collect ~7 gallons pre-boil, most people would end up with about 6 gallons post-boil. After whirlpooling, you would siphon 5.5 gal into your fermenter, leaving about 1/2 gal of trub in the kettle. When you rack from your fermenter into secondary, or keg, bottling bucket, etc., you again leave nearly a half gallon of trub behind, giving you ~5 gallons of beer.

More experienced brewers can correct me if I'm wrong here, but that's how it appears to me.

Denny · 06-01-2009, 06:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by st0neski

makes sense, so what are we talking like a gallon or 2 from the mash? plus the 6 from the sparging, 7-8 gallons, boiling that down to 5?

.12 gal./lb. of grain is a ballpark figure. FWIW, I start with 7.5-8 gal. to end up with 5-5.5.

ubermick · 08-26-2009, 07:42 PM

So three partial brews down, and the next is going to be AG. Cooler tun's already built, an 8 gallon pot from B3 has been purchased along with a SP10 20psi burner, and the wort chiller will be made tonight.

My question though, is do I need to do a test run with plain water to measure boiloff rate? For example, if I end up with, say 7 gallons of wort, I would assume I need to calculate how long it will need to boil for until it hits the magical "one hour left" period, when hops et al start getting added, finally ending at 5-ish gallons?