Brutus Brewer
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jul 12, 2006
- Messages
- 468
- Reaction score
- 22
Last week I brewed my first original recipe, a pale ale. Prior to the brew day I constructed a measuring stick by pouring 1 gallon of water in my brew pot and noting the level on the piece of cpvc pipe I was using. I did this for 10 gallons of water. With the help of Promash I calculated needing 6.875 gallons of wort to the boil to reach my target volume of 5.5 gallons after evaporation. Knowing this I collected just over 7 gallons from the mash and began my 65 minute boil. When it was all said and done I had 4 gallons to transfer to the fermenter, so over the course of the 65 minute boil I lost over 3 gallons to evaporation. In case you're wondering that's almost 6 ounces per minute. I even lowered my boiling temperature to slow down the evaporation rate. Now, I know there is a shrinkage factor as the water cools, but wow, this is getting very discouraging. This was my 4th all grain brew and they have all been like this with one exception where I intentionally collected like 8.5 gallons and my boil off wasn't near what it was last week. I have been doing this inside my garage but I can't believe that this is the root cause. Any ideas?