Brew size

Let's say you make a 5 gal batch, All grain. How do y'all get your 5 gallons? Do y'all steep your grains with 2.5 gallons of water, then add 2.5 gallons to cool? How do y'all do it to get a true 5 gallons of wart?

You obviously loose wart when you boil due to evaporation. How do you compensate the lost amount to where your beer doesn't come out watery due to too much water?

jknapp12105 said:

Let's say you make a 5 gal batch, All grain. How do y'all get your 5 gallons? Do y'all steep your grains with 2.5 gallons of water, then add 2.5 gallons to cool? How do y'all do it to get a true 5 gallons of wart?

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There are two basic ways to do AG. One is the traditional way, and one is brew-in-a-bag (BIAB). These have some variations, too, but the basic idea is the same.

In the traditional way, you mash your grain with about 1.25-1.5 quarts of water per pound of grain. So, if you have a 10 pound grainbill, you'd use 12.5-15 quarts of water in the mash. Then you sparge (rinse) the grains with clear water, to get up to your boil volume, usually about 6.5 gallons total for a 5 gallon batch. You don't add water once you are finished, you boil down the 6.5 gallons to 5 gallons of finished wort.

I don't do BIAB, so I'm not that familiar with the method so someone else will have to answer that!

Yooper said:

I don't do BIAB, so I'm not that familiar with the method so someone else will have to answer that!

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BIAB is really the same except you put your grains in a nylon bag so you can pull them out and turn your Mash Tun into your brew kettle. All the same water measurements apply.

jknapp12105 said:

You obviously loose wart when you boil due to evaporation. How do you compensate the lost amount to where your beer doesn't come out watery due to too much water?

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To use an engineering term, we WAG.
boil off rate is a Wild Assed Guess. but use the same equipment long enough and you know.

too much water and you boil longer and you juggle less/more wort at the right OG vs the exact amount of wort at a close OG. exactly 5/10/15 gallons is rarely important.