Will this work?

Well I'm brewing a batch and the directions are incomplete. This is all I know : 5 gallon batch
75% efficiency
Mash @ 148 for 90 minutes
Boil for 90 minutes
Add candi @ 20 min

I'm doing all grain I have all the ingredients but my deal is I don't know how much water to mash with or sparge with. Or what temp to heat sparge water to. I don't a batch sparge.

How are you brewing then? Or are you asking how to do this WITH batch sparging?

For batch sparging (this isn't exact but it will make beer):

If you are doing full boil for 90 min then you probably want around 6.5 gallons PRE BOIL.

Dough in with enough water to submerge the grain by a few inches at ~150. (I don't know how much heat you loose in your process but I'm not sure if you do either...) Mash for one hour and collect your first runnings and note how much you collected. Then sparge with the remainder of what you need +.5 gallons or so. Wait 10 min and collect the rest of your wort.

Typo : I do a batch sparge

I'm gonna boil for 90 and mash for 90 so should I collect 6 gallons

Are sparge and mash temp usually the same

If you are doing a "mash out" which is used to stop conversion and prevent tannins, then you want to sparge with 170* water.

I usually try to get close to 170 but it does not matter too much because the runnings go right into my BK and the heat is turned on and conversion gets stopped in not too long.

You probably want more than 6 gallons, IMO I like to end up with extra rather than too little. Boil off rates vary but I don't know enough to say what affects it but average boil off seems to be between 1-2 gallons per 60 min boil. If you are going for a 90 min boil I would want to start with at least 6.5 gallons maybe 7... its all up to you though!

This is how I do figire out how much water to use. Take the amount the recipe tells you you're supposed to wind up with. For example 5.5g. I know I lose 2 gallons in an hour boiling, so i'd figure on losing 3 gallons. Add that to the 5.5 to get to 8.5. Figure on losing around a gallon per 10 pounds of grain in the mash tun. Assuming you have around ten pounds of grain, Add that to the 8.5. So you start with 8.5 gallons of water. For me, I single sparge, so i'd split my water down the middle, mash with 4.25, then sparge with 4.25 and be done with it. You could add a half gallon for trub loss if you get lots of trub in,the kettle. This isn't anywhere near a scientific way of doing it, but it's what I do, it's simple, and I make good beer doing it. Someone will tell me i'n crazy, and it won't work, but it does for me.

If you want to work out temps in beersmith, which i'm guessing you don't have, pm me and we'll go through the numbers

I can just keep boiling down right?

I'm gonna try your numbers Mikey

I'd like to get 5.5

I dunno I'm just gonna hold off on this recipie

You wanna run through your recipe?

Benzy take up Mikey's offer as good luck. Brewing software takes much guessing out of brewing.

If we go through it, you'll get it done, no problems

This is the only info inhale and the equipment i use
42 quart pot and 48 quart cooler mash tun

9.8 lbs of Belgian pilsner
1.4 lbs of weyemann Munich type II
Amber candy sugar 1lbs
0.4 lbs caramel vienne
0.4 lbs caramel Munich
0.4 lbs aromatic
0.2lbs special B

Hops hellertau pellets 2ozs @ 60 minutes

Yeast white labs Abby ale

It says mash at 148 for 90 mins
Boil for 90 mins
Add candi sugar with 20 mins left on boil
Ferment at 65-70 degrees

I'd do one batch sparge but that's all I know

It's a shoultz Meyer double trouble

Ok, phone time is over, going to the desktop, gimme a sec

I"m gonna run the recipe through beersmith, so gimme a sec.

what kind of beer do they have this listed as?

Belgian dark strong ale

Ok, you want your strike temp for 5 gallons of water to be 156. If you preheat your tun with other water, that's fine, or you could just put 5 gallons of water in your tun at 160, close the lid for 10 minutes, then check your temp. If it's too hot, leave the lid open and stir it around till it gets to 156. When it gets to 156, dump in your grain, and mix it up till there's no visible dry spots, and every speck of grain is in contact with water. If this is your first time, I"d give yourself an extra couple of degrees, say 158. This will give you room to break up the grain with the lid open, lose temp, and still hit your mash temp. Keep some cool water on hand, and if possible, some near boiling water, just in case you miss your temp by a lot, but you really shouldn't. BS is pretty good with the temps.

Scratch that. Belgian dubble

Okay sounds good. I just got brewsmith but hard to understand this will only be my second batch

So mash w five gallons?

After you're done stirring everything up and there are no dry spots in the grain, check your temperature. If you're at 148, close the lid and walk away for 10 minutes. Check your temp again in ten minutes just in case it drops, or if you possibly didn't mix well enough before. If your temp is off, make the proper adjustment with your cold or hot water. Don't add too much at once, or you'll be yo yo ing all over the place. Make sure you mix well, or there will be pockets of cold or hot grain that could throw off your temps. Once you get your temp to 148, close the lid and walk away for 45 minutes. Once 45 minutes is up, open the tun and give it a good stir. Just to be safe, and for your own info, take a temp reading. If it's off by a lot, you can adjust with cold or hot water. At this point, one or two degrees isn't going to be critical, so if you can't get it exactly at 148, don't worry about it too much.

While all this is going on, start heating your sparge water. YOu're going to heat 4.5 gallons of water to 177. When the 90 minute mash is up, vorlauf till clear, then drain your MLT. Add your sparge water, and give that sucker a good mix up till everything is wet again. Check your temp, just to be sure it's close to 168, but not over 170. If it's over 170, add some cold water to get it below 170. If it's 165 or in that range, don't worry about getting it hotter, it'll be fine for lautering. Let that sit for 10 minutes, then vorlauf and drain your tun. Now you're ready for the boil.

benzy4010 said:

So mash w five gallons?

Click to expand...

I'm doing this the way I would. I'm not going on any ratios of grain to water. This is your first all grain, correct? Keep in mind, this is the way I do it. If you ask ten other brewers, you'll come up with a bunch of different ways to do it. This is the easiest way for you to get the hang of things without being critical of qt amounts of water, and nitpicking about small measurements. You'll make beer this way, and it'll be good.

Second batch bit the first came with step by step w all the numbers already , thanks so much by the way your a huge help

Once you have finished mashing and lautering, you should come up with somewhere around 8.5 gallons of wort. Start your boil. Once you're boiling, start your timer for 90 minutes. When your timer gets to 60 remaining, add your hops. When your timer gets to 20 remainind, add the candi sugar. Make sure you stir it in well so it doesn't sit on the bottom and get burnt up. Everything else is the same as extract.

How much water did you say to dough in with?

5 gallons and sparge with 4.5 okay

Now keep in mind, this is the way I do it. I know I lose 2 gallons in an hour, so I'm figuring for your 90 minute boil, I'd lose 3 gallons. Your system might be different. If you know you only boil off one gallon in an hour, then you'll lose 1.5 gallons in an hour and a half, so decrease your water volume by 1.5 g. It really depends on your system, if you know those numbers. The strike temp and sparge temp should be pretty solid from beersmith. You always have the option to make adjustments, just make sure you stir everything well, and take temps from different spots in your tun. It could vary from one side of the tun to another.

If I were you, I'd copy and paste the volumes and temps, and any steps your unsure of into a .txt, or word file, and keep it handy on brew day. This way you're not frantically searching through this thread to get your numbers.

Alright i will. I'm gonna start this tomorrow am at like 8 o'clock I'm excited thanks again couldn't have done this with out your help!!!

Took pics with my iPhone haha was thinking the same thing

I'll take pica while I'm brewing so you can see your numbers at work haha thanks

Lemme know how things go. I know it seems like a lot, but stay relaxed and don't overthink things. Don't panic, remember, it's beer. It's pretty forgiving as long as you keep everything close to the numbers I"ve given you. A degree or two isn't going to cause mayhem. If you have any further questions, lemme know. Good luck

I'll be home all day, so PM me if you have any questions and I"ll help ya out.

Mash has been sitting for forty five and is right on the number smells Great heating sparge water up now

Good to hear. So I guess things are running smooth?