all grain question

i'm trying to process all this info on all grain brewing and of course have some questions.

i'll be using a 7.5 gallon turkey fryer and have read all about the boil over potential if i'm doing a full boil.

1) does a full boil for a 5 gallon batch always start with 6 gallons or is it often more?

2) relating to that, i know the mashing water amount (1.25 gal/lb of grain) but how do you determine how much to sparge with? do you just fill out the remainder of the starting boil volume? or is there any 'topping up' to speak of with all grain (i.e. you mash & sparge with a given amount and make up 6 gallons with tap water before starting the boil?

hopefully these questions makes sense. thanks in advance for your help.

1. It depends on your boil off rate, boil length, and trub leftovers but 6.5 gallons isn't too uncommon. I'd recommend putting 5.5 gallons in the 7.5 and another gallon in a smaller pot.

2. Measure your first runnings (if batch sparging). Subtract that amount from 6.5 and that's how much sparge you add.

wonderful, thanks a bunch.

i'm going to try my first AG recipe next weekend. i'm gonna try a hefe for the wife. how does the following sound:

5# wheat malt
5# pils malt

1 oz. hellertau for 60 min

WLP300 with a starter

should i add any carapils for head retention or up the grain amount overall to make up for efficiency loss due to it being my first AG?

thanks!

Throw in a little Irish Moss the last 5 min of boil. I have became hooked on this, and use it with every brew I do now.

My full boils for 5 gallons start near 8 gallons, but I do 90 minute boils and have to account for loss in the lines running to and from the pump and chiller, so I end up with more than 5 gallons before it hits the fermenter. It depends on your system. I used to use an 8 gallon pot before I reinvented my setup; now I use a 10 gallon one.

I use a 7.5Gal turkey fryer setup and start with a 6.3gal boil. The only point I have to worry about boil over is at the start of the boil for the first break. As I approach boiling I keep my long brewing spoon and a squirt bottle of cold water ready. When it starts to boil over I stir in a zigzag pattern and give'r the squirt bottle I then turn the heat down a bit and it usually will settle down within a couple of minutes into a nice rolling boil.

cool, i might try the 6.3 gallon or i might go up to 6.5 and just put a gallon in a separate pot inside or something.

is irish moss advisable in a hefe? i've got some so could use it but i thought you didn't want to coagulate those proteins in a hefe??

any thoughts on adding some rice hulls to avoid a stuck sparge? i'll be using a homemade MLT with a copper manifold in the bottom, i don't know if those are more or less prone to sticking...

I wouldn't use irish moss in a hefe. Rice hulls are always good with wheat.

And you can boil 6.5 gals in a 7.5 gal turkey fryer pot if you're REALLY careful. Have a little spray bottle on hand, and go gentle on the heat when you start seeing hot break.

Regarding your recipe, does the wife like banana/clove flavored beer?

yeah, she loves a good banana/clove flavor. this comes entirely from the yeast and associated temps, no? i'll probably end up fermenting it around 65 due to my temperature control limitations.

i'd add a pound of rice hulls to aid lautering with 50% wheat grain bill.

mostly i use about 2qts per pound when sparging. ie your water load would look like this:

strike:12.5qts
1st sparge:2.5g
2nd sparge:2.5g
doing two equal sparges will improve your efficiency over a single large one

android said:

yeah, she loves a good banana/clove flavor. this comes entirely from the yeast and associated temps, no? i'll probably end up fermenting it around 65 due to my temperature control limitations.

Click to expand...

Yes, it's compounds the yeast create, and hefe yeast makes a lot of them. For more clove (phenol), ferment cooler, low end of the 60s, for more banana (an ester - isoamyl acetate), go higher near 70. In the middle you'll get some of both.

I used my 7.5 gallon fryer for the first time last night. With 6.5 gallons it almost boiled over before the first break. Once that was done it boiled nicely.

Here is a follow up all grain question. After the break my turkey fryer had a nice scum layer around the top edge. Once the boil was over and I cool the wort with my chiller I siphoned out most of the beer. At the end I had to pour from the pot and the wort of course had to come in contact with the scum and stuff on the pot. Is this what everyone normally does? Do you clean the pot before dumping?

I wouldn't bother if I were you.