Too much boiled off

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Gonefishing

Gonefishing

Someday I'll stop procrastinating
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Can't figure this one out... yesterday I started with 5 gallons of water and after mashing and boiling ended up with about 2.25 gallons! I know I lost some in the grains, and spilled maybe a cup... but doesn't that seem like an impossible boiling loss?
 
Depends...

I brew AG, and it takes 8 gallons of mash/sparge water to net 6.5-7 gallons to the boil pot depending on the amount of grain. Then, I boil to 5.5. This means I "lost" 2.5 gallons of water to grain absorption, manifold losses and boil-off.
 
Guess I need to get my bigger cooler modded so I can start with more wort in the first place then. Oh gee... another reason to make something <grin>
 
Buy the Beer Smith program! It makes life so much easier for figuring out water needs. I'm always amazed at how much water I need for a 5 gallon batch. Although I could do the math, Beer Smith does it for me so I can just have fun brewing instead of all that figuring.
 
I start with about 9 gallons of water in order to end up with 5 gallons so that does not sound crazy at all. I lose nearly 2 gallons during boil due to a wide pot.....

Oh yeah, I also recommend BeerSmith!
 
I did d/l the trail for Beersmith and it looks good. I'll know next time to plan on boiling off 2+ gallons. Thinking about it, I boiled off 1.5 gallons the last time I boiled a partial boil, so I guess I'm not that far off this time, especially when absortion is considered
 
With just 2.25 gallons post boil the OG was 1.090ish....way too high! A gallon of spring water got it down to what it should have been though.
 
I'm just did my third all grain today. I think i have figured my system out now, I lose right at two gallons in a one hour boil. I've got Beersmith and you can enter all your data in for mash, boil time,Etc. I finally hit my og dead on!
 

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