First All Grain session was a success!

Anthony_Lopez · Oct 27, 2008

I know there are a lot of "First All Grain" posts, however I have some specific questions after this run.

I'm not going to obsess over my efficiencies in general, however for my first few all grain batches, I'm going to track them til we get mid-80's or low 90's.

My biggest question is more regarding something dumb that I did than technique (maybe thats the same thing).

I took my First runnings gravity, batch sparge 1 gravity and batch sparge 2 gravity, however somehow I forgot to get a sample once we starting heating for the full boil. How can I get a decent estimate on what my SG would have been?

Also, what would a decent estimate be for grain absorbtion? x quarts of water absorbed by x pounds of grain?

Thanks for all the advice while we moved to all grain. Many of you have been a real help.

Otis The Drunk · Oct 27, 2008

Congratulations, welcome to the obsession.

Bobby_M · Oct 27, 2008

IIRC, .12 gallons per pound of grain is a typical absorption. If you were sure of your volumes for each of the runnings, you can do a straight average.

Anthony_Lopez · Oct 27, 2008

Thanks Bobby,

From what I would assume on that .12 gallons water/lb grain, that would be during the initial mash, since during the sparge the grains should have already absorbed water to their potential. Since we aren't "squeezing" out the grains, they should not absorb much water during the sparge. Would that be correct?

I tried the math, however it doesn't make much sense to me, since we ended up with 1.056 OG into the fermenter, and boiled off almost 2 gallons. That should make the wort's OG reading more concentrated than the SG.

13.75 qts of water for mash, running off ~ 2.2 gallons @ 1.085
11.3 qts for first sparge, running off ~ 11 qts @ 1.055
11.3 qts for second sparge, running off ~ 11 qts @ 1.018

We started at a little over 7 gallons, and expected to boil off about 1.5 gallons (we boiled off almost 2)

My math would be [(2.2 X 85) + (2.75 X 55) + (2.75 X 18)]/7 gallons = 1.055

Shouldnt this boil off to a higher concentration than what I got for my OG of 1.056?

Blender · Oct 27, 2008

I figure my absorbtion to be .15 gallons per pound. You only need to account for it in the mash.

Bobby_M · Oct 27, 2008

Right, the grain is saturated already so any sparge you put in comes out.

blacklab · Oct 27, 2008

I use this spreadsheet to calculate strike and sparge volumes, and I'm generally right on target.

http://www.bayareamashers.org/content/maindocs/BatchSparge.xls

Plus it has the formulas and whatnot so you can see what the numbers are behind the calcs if you'd like.

eriktlupus · Oct 28, 2008

NoClueBrewMaster said:
Thanks Bobby,

From what I would assume on that .12 gallons water/lb grain, that would be during the initial mash, since during the sparge the grains should have already absorbed water to their potential. Since we aren't "squeezing" out the grains, they should not absorb much water during the sparge. Would that be correct?

I tried the math, however it doesn't make much sense to me, since we ended up with 1.056 OG into the fermenter, and boiled off almost 2 gallons. That should make the wort's OG reading more concentrated than the SG.

13.75 qts of water for mash, running off ~ 2.2 gallons @ 1.085
11.3 qts for first sparge, running off ~ 11 qts @ 1.055
11.3 qts for second sparge, running off ~ 11 qts @ 1.018

We started at a little over 7 gallons, and expected to boil off about 1.5 gallons (we boiled off almost 2)

My math would be [(2.2 X 85) + (2.75 X 55) + (2.75 X 18)]/7 gallons = 1.055

Shouldnt this boil off to a higher concentration than what I got for my OG of 1.056?

[(2.2*85)+(2.75*55)+(2.75*18)]/7.7G=1.050
check your own math plz

patrck17 · Oct 28, 2008

I got 1.055 too, sorry erik

eriktlupus · Oct 28, 2008

eriktlupus said:
[(2.2*85)+(2.75*55)+(2.75*18)]/7.7G=1.050
check your own math plz

patrck17 said:
I got 1.055 too, sorry erik

you get 1.055 only when you use 7g as your diviser but if you add up his collection amount it totals 7.7g

Blender · Oct 28, 2008

I think the difference is that erik divided by 7.7 which is the total of the 3 sparges. I also get 1.050 but I ain't no math whiz.

Kauai_Kahuna · Oct 28, 2008

My head hurts, time for another homebrew.
I think the answer is the absorbtion is only on the mash, but then again "I see numbers all around me".

Anthony_Lopez · Oct 28, 2008

[(1.5 X 85) + (2.75 X 55) + (2.75 X 18)]/7 gallons = 1.046, however that would suggest that the grain bill absorbed a lot of water in the mash... I think the bottom line is that I need to finish up my keggle and start collecting a larger amount of runnings...

Stile · Oct 28, 2008

Kauai_Kahuna said:
My head hurts, time for another homebrew.
I think the answer is the absorbtion is only on the mash, but then again "I see numbers all around me".

HURTS????? mine exploded a few replies back :drunk:

eriktlupus · Oct 28, 2008

so how many pounds of grain in the bill?

First All Grain session was a success!

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