"Re-Heating" Wort

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

HoppyHoppyJoyJoy

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 28, 2007
Messages
46
Reaction score
1
Ok, here's the dilemma.

I decided to brew up an all grain Kolsch. The recipe calls for a total of 11 pounds of grain and malt. So far so good.

But when I got the bag of grain/malt mix home from the brew store, it occurred to me that there is no way I'm going to get all that stuff into my 5 gallon kettle, along with 5 gallons of water.

So the plan is to split the recipe in two, to accommodate my now strangely effeminate looking kettle.

Question is, would there be any harm in pouring hot wort into the wort that had cooled in the carboy during the time it took to make batch number two?

Seems to me like it wouldn't be a problem, but then if I knew what I was doing, I wouldn't be asking. Thanks.

Hoppy
 
Are you mashing in your kettle? Why do you need to get all the grain and 5 gals water in there at the same time?

The two temps shouldn't be a prob, except that you'll be needing to chill your wort before you rack/pour it into your carboy, so they shouldn't be that different in temperature. Your brew day will be pretty long if you have to do two boils consecutively for 1 brew though.
 
Splitting a batch is no problem- just divide the hops equally, too, and do it. But DON'T add hot wort to cooled wort- then you'll just heat up the cooled wort. Cool it in the sink in an ice bath (1/2 batch doesn't take too long to cool) and then mix them up. If you have two pots, you can do them on the stove at the same time, cool in an ice bath in the bathtub or in your sink if you have room.

What are you using for a mash tun? You didn't say how you were planning on mashing it. You can mash it in your bottling bucket if you have too, but you are going to need a couple of bigger pots if you plan on mashing in your kettle.
 
Other than hot side aeration which can be avoided and the potential for infection, no.

What I would do for splitting the batch.

Do batch 1, cool it to pitching temp and dump into fermenter.
Do batch 2, cool to pitching temp and dump into fermenter.

This will take a long, long time. Each batch is going to run ~3 hours after mashing, spargeing, boiling and cooling. You could speed this up by getting a big cooler to do the mash in. Then you only have to split the boil and cooling, which only adds 1 hour and change. Also, you may be able to boil both at the same time in two pots.

IMHO, spend the $100 on a cooler and a turkey fryer. Use you're 5gal pot for an HLT and a fryer for the boil. Save you're sell a HUGE pile of pain and you'll be set up for all grain.
 
Yooper Chick said:
What are you using for a mash tun? You didn't say how you were planning on mashing it. You can mash it in your bottling bucket if you have too, but you are going to need a couple of bigger pots if you plan on mashing in your kettle.

The plan was to mash in the kettle, sparge into the carboy, and then return the wort to the kettle for the boil- twice.

But now this plan is sounding stupid. A trip to the hardware store may be in order.

Maybe I'm reading this recipe wrong. It says to mash in at 150 for 60 minutes, then sparge at 170, and then boil for 60 minutes. So at what point am I supposed to raise the mash temp to 170? Confused now.

Hoppy
 
HoppyHoppyJoyJoy said:
The plan was to mash in the kettle, sparge into the carboy, and then return the wort to the kettle for the boil- twice.

But now this plan is sounding stupid. A trip to the hardware store may be in order.

Maybe I'm reading this recipe wrong. It says to mash in at 150 for 60 minutes, then sparge at 170, and then boil for 60 minutes. So at what point am I supposed to raise the mash temp to 170? Confused now.

Hoppy

If you haven't read it already, this may prove helpful: http://www.howtobrew.com/section3/index.html

Your 5-gallon kettle is big enough to mash your 11 pounds of grain all at once, as long as you keep the ratio at 1.5 qt/lb or less (I'd use 1.25)

Not sure how you're planning to "sparge into the carboy", but it might be easier if you can sparge into a big, clean bucket. If you have something that will hold 7-8 gallons of wort, you can do one mash, one sparge, and then two boils. (There's no harm in letting the wort for the 2nd boil sit in the clean bucket for a couple hours...nothing infectious will take hold in that time, and you're going to boil it anyway). That should cut down your total brew time considerably.
 
Good plan! But I did use my bottling bucket for my first PM beer, and it worked out ok. It's hard to keep your temps at 150 for an hour without an insulated cooler, though. Still, if you want to brew sooner and not wait until you have the MLT, mashing in your kettle isn't impossible. You can do it, and drain it (maybe into your bottling bucket) and then sparge in it. You'd need a big grain bag or something, though, to separate the grain from the wort.

Good luck!
 
if you need cheap ideas for a mash tun, look in the DIY section, there's one that'll run under $30 using a rubbermaid Victory cooler (5 or 10 gallon) and various Watts brass pipe fittings from Lowe's.

at least if you're after an insulated tun.
 
malkore said:
if you need cheap ideas for a mash tun, look in the DIY section, there's one that'll run under $30 using a rubbermaid Victory cooler (5 or 10 gallon) and various Watts brass pipe fittings from Lowe's.

at least if you're after an insulated tun.

Under $30 is a bit generous unless you cut corners on the fittings. But certainly under $40 (for the 5 gal, at least).

Just to reiterate though, I also did my first and second PM batches in my kettle and bottling bucket (respectively). I'd say the bucket was actually easier (assuming you come close to the mash temp after infusion). I only lost about 3-5 degrees during the 60 min mash. Sparging is the only tough part. FWIW, you can make a REALLY cheap (under $10) lauter tun out of two 5 gal. buckets as described in Papazian's "Joy of Homebrewing."
 
Back
Top