Brew Water calculations

I ordered a all grain brew kit and instructions for mash and sparge calculations only equal about 4.5 gallons and doesnt allow for evaporation for a 60 minute
boil .
Do I just add water to fermentor or use more sparge water than they suggest ?

You mash at 1.25 to 1.5 qts/lb of grain. You will lose .12 gallons of water to absorption in the mash. You calculate your boil off rate (about 1 gallon/hour normally, may be more). From this you determine your pre-boil volume. Deduct your first runnings from the pre-boil need and then you know how much water you need to sparge with to get the pre-boil volume

Be aware, if you are doing a 5 gallon batch you will need at least an 8 gallon kettle, 10 preferably. You will also need to verify that your stove can boil a full volume, if you have a propane burner and are brewing outdoors then there is no issue

Brewing software is highly recommended for AG brewing to help with all calculations. Some are free, some are not. The brewing software forum has lots of suggestions and critiques, cheers!

I gave up on using software/calculations to determine how much water to use. When I followed instructions above or what beer smith would tell me I would usually end up with maybe around 4 gallons in the fermenter. I now start out with 8 gallons and usually end up with 4.5-5.5 gallons in the fermenter.

I usually mash in with about 4 gallons and batch sparge with the other 4, I end up with about 6-7 gallons in the boil kettle. It seems like I usally lose alot to evaporation and hop pellet absorption.

I just went back and did the math with the calculation above and seems like I am fairly spot on lol.

blefferd said:

I gave up on using software/calculations to determine how much water to use. When I followed instructions above or what beer smith would tell me I would usually end up with maybe around 4 gallons in the fermenter. I now start out with 8 gallons and usually end up with 4.5-5.5 gallons in the fermenter.

I usually mash in with about 4 gallons and batch sparge with the other 4, I end up with about 6-7 gallons in the boil kettle. It seems like I usally lose alot to evaporation and hop pellet absorption.

I just went back and did the math with the calculation above and seems like I am fairly spot on lol.

Click to expand...

It's pretty basic other than dialing in your losses and boil off. The only thing I will suggest is all you are mentioning is either a gallon high or a gallon low and that can make a pretty big difference in your final product

If you take good notes and get all your values correct then using software works really well once you get your profile set up properly.

duboman said:

It's pretty basic other than dialing in your losses and boil off. The only thing I will suggest is all you are mentioning is either a gallon high or a gallon low and that can make a pretty big difference in your final product

If you take good notes and get all your values correct then using software works really well once you get your profile set up properly.

Click to expand...

Yeah my evaporation rate is usually what gets me some days I will lose a gallon others its more. I have not had any real issues in my final product though other than quanitity. My numbers are usually spot on with the software I do use.