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**bleme** · 10-09-2012, 05:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SimonPascal

One gallon is nearly a lab test size. I brewed a common bitter, with fuggle in first wort hopping. East Kent golding in my boil. One thing is: I lost nearly 50% of my water in my 60 min boil. What did I do wrong?

Boil-off is a function of pot shape and boil strength. If you normally boil off a gallon an hour in a 5 gallon batch (pretty standard), you will boil off even more in a one gallon batch (assuming you are using the same pot and full heat).

rawkstar320 · 10-09-2012, 06:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SimonPascal

One gallon is nearly a lab test size. I brewed a common bitter, with fuggle in first wort hopping. East Kent golding in my boil. One thing is: I lost nearly 50% of my water in my 60 min boil. What did I do wrong?

I loose around 2qts on a 60 min boil. You just need to plan out a little extra, and maybe turn down the boil. I typically have nice rolling boiling, nothing extreme.

**forestGeek** · 10-09-2012, 06:40 PM

I typically lose about 30% in the boil. I try to start with about 6 quarts, and also keep it down to a nice low rolling boil.

Yesfan · 10-09-2012, 08:47 PM

The last two 1 gallon batches I did I:

Decided to just boil a full gallon for batch one, despite the instructions telling me to boil 1.25 gallons. Had to top off the fermenting bucket with a qt of water to get to the full gallon mark. The second batch I boiled the 1.25 gallons as instructed and it came out dead even to a gallon. Full heat was used on batch 1, while I had the temp knob turned a little past medium (4 O Clock position) for batch 2's boil. This was on an electric stove too if that helps.

SimonPascal · 10-09-2012, 09:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yesfan

The last two 1 gallon batches I did I:

Decided to just boil a full gallon for batch one, despite the instructions telling me to boil 1.25 gallons. Had to top off the fermenting bucket with a qt of water to get to the full gallon mark. The second batch I boiled the 1.25 gallons as instructed and it came out dead even to a gallon. Full heat was used on batch 1, while I had the temp knob turned a little past medium (4 O Clock position) for batch 2's boil. This was on an electric stove too if that helps.

This help a lot, I will do that with my next week batch. I need to get my sugar maple wood chips soaked for my next brew. (My classic Imperial Stout)

Yesfan · 10-09-2012, 09:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SimonPascal

This help a lot, I will do that with my next week batch. I need to get my sugar maple wood chips soaked for my next brew. (My classic Imperial Stout)

I'm sure it's safe to say, every stove's going to be different. FWIW, when I first got my 2 and 3 gallon pots, I boiled a gallon of water in my 2G pot to see how long the stove would take to boil. At full heat, I timed it at 14 minutes to full boil. I'm pretty sure it took me that long with batch two and the stove's temp knob being at the 4 o' clock position.

Something I may do is just boil some different amounts of water and make a log of how long it takes my stove to bring X amount of water to a full rolling boil. Then, not only would I have the data I need when I start another batch, I would also have a cleaner water supply to work from.

YeastHerder · 10-10-2012, 04:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SimonPascal

I lost nearly 50% of my water in my 60 min boil. What did I do wrong?

Nothing, really. Assuming you started with 1 gallon, lets say you then lost 1/2 gallon. In that case, add 1/2 gallon to your total sparge volume next time and your next boil will finish pretty much right where you want it. You'll also get a bit of a bump in your efficiency from the extra goodies you strip from the grain.

My method is ~2.5 qt mash for 2lbs of grain, and 2x 2qt batch sparges. The extra 2 qts boil off over the hour and I finish at or just a little under the target volume.

SimonPascal · 10-10-2012, 06:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by YeastHerder

Nothing, really. Assuming you started with 1 gallon, lets say you then lost 1/2 gallon. In that case, add 1/2 gallon to your total sparge volume next time and your next boil will finish pretty much right where you want it. You'll also get a bit of a bump in your efficiency from the extra goodies you strip from the grain.

My method is ~2.5 qt mash for 2lbs of grain, and 2x 2qt batch sparges. The extra 2 qts boil off over the hour and I finish at or just a little under the target volume.

So if I want to make a 2 stage infusion, I would just do it with more water because I know I will boil it off?

YeastHerder · 10-12-2012, 03:38 AM

If you don't want to do any sparges, you can add the extra water at the end of the mash. Could heat it to a temp such that adding it brings you to a 170F final temp for a mash out. Lots of ways to deal with this I imagine. I always batch sparge, so not really knowledgeable about other ways.

Bootlegger_Brewery · 10-12-2012, 02:40 PM

I'm thinking of setting up a lab at my place. We brew at my buddy's place 3V 23L. I would like to brew more often and test more recipes. 1 gallon would be perfect for my small space, get more variety, tweak recipes, low cost of equip. (I already invested alot on our other set-up).

I would do my mash in a 11L kettle with a brew bag on my stove... Regular mash (as in my cooler) then pull the grains out, into colander over kettle and batch sparge... This way I think I can end up with 7.75 or 8L pre-boil in my kettle (need to test exactly mow much I want pre-boil...) and up with 5.75L.

It's not really BIAB seeing as I will be batch sparging to get more efficiency and trying to make high gravity beers In this small set-up. Im trying to find a way to make 1gal with very low cost equip. and being able to easily transfer the same recipe to 23L on my 3V set-up... If i do full volume BIAB I will need more grains, bigger kettle so I can obtain higher gravity, and recipes won't turn out exactly the same on 3V...

Has anybody tried this? Will an 11L kettle be big enough? For those who use a cooler for a 1gal, what size cooler do you use? Haven't bought the kettle yet, trying to figure out the exact size first. All I'm missing is kettle and sec. fermenter have everything else from my 3V....