barside laundry
Well-Known Member
Due to ending up with slightly less than 4 gallons in the fermenter (after my 1st and 2nd all grain attempt) I ask this question. After batch sparging until my kettle had about 6 gallons (it took 60 mins.) the water coming out of the mash tun was totally clear, telling me I have effectively cleansed the grain of all they've got. So, should I just stop sparging and add 1 gallon of tap water to the kettle to bring up my pre boil volume to 7 or maybe even 8 gallons or should I just run the HLT water through the grain until I reach 7 or 8 gallons.
Is it unheard of to start the boil with 8 gallons of wort for a 5 gallon batch? I heat my kettle with a 4500 watt heating element and I lose quite a bit due to evaporation. The heating element also prevents me from using a muslin bag unless I try suspending it which will be tough because it takes 3 gallons just to cover the element. Needless to say, the hop pellet trub slows down my wort flow through my 3/8 c-f chiller, and next time I will try whole hops.
As always, thanks for any help.
Is it unheard of to start the boil with 8 gallons of wort for a 5 gallon batch? I heat my kettle with a 4500 watt heating element and I lose quite a bit due to evaporation. The heating element also prevents me from using a muslin bag unless I try suspending it which will be tough because it takes 3 gallons just to cover the element. Needless to say, the hop pellet trub slows down my wort flow through my 3/8 c-f chiller, and next time I will try whole hops.
As always, thanks for any help.