Probably a dumb question.

Well i though I had everything I needed for my first all grain, with exception to the wort cooler which is on order. I started looking at some recipes on this site and a lot of them have pre boil volume at 10+ gallons, maybe I am reading this wrong. Is this much really necessary? I only have a 30qt. pot and assumed that is would be enough. Am I going to have to invest in a new pot? I really don't want to right now, maybe this summer when im working full time but right now the money is just not their for a good brew pot and if im going to buy a new one I want to do it right the first time.

Thanks for the help once again.

For 5 gallons 7 gallons is normal pre-boil. after 60 min you will have 5-5.5 g's of wort.

Im not sure where you see 10 gallons, unless thats the total water needed (3-5 g mash +3-5 gallon sparge)

I have a 40 qt pot and thats a perfect size. 30 qts will work. Just watch for boil-overs after the wort starts boiling good.

Ivan Lendl said:

For 5 gallons 7 gallons is normal pre-boil. after 60 min you will have 5-5.5 g's of wort.

Im not sure where you see 10 gallons, unless thats the total water needed (3-5 g mash +3-5 gallon sparge)

I have a 40 qt pot and thats a perfect size. 30 qts will work. Just watch for boil-overs after the wort starts boiling good.

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Like i said I could be reading this wrong, some of the terms are still foreign to me.
01:33:00 Mash In - Liquor: 4.0 gal; Strike: 175.0 °F
01:35:36 Mash Out - Heat: 2.6 min; Target: 168.0 °F
02:20:36 Sparge - Sparge: 5.0 gal sparge @ 170.0 °F, 11.0 gal collected, 45.0 min; Total Runoff: 11.0 gal

and yes i already have a spray bottle to help with boil overs, that and I don't let my brews leave my sight once i start. Im probably a little to paranoid.

Ryanh1801 said:

Like i said I could be reading this wrong, some of the terms are still foreign to me.
01:33:00 Mash In - Liquor: 4.0 gal; Strike: 175.0 °F
01:35:36 Mash Out - Heat: 2.6 min; Target: 168.0 °F
02:20:36 Sparge - Sparge: 5.0 gal sparge @ 170.0 °F, 11.0 gal collected, 45.0 min; Total Runoff: 11.0 gal

and yes i already have a spray bottle to help with boil overs, that and I don't let my brews leave my sight once i start. Im probably a little to paranoid.

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Yeah, thats some crazy recipe....4.0 gallons + 5.0 gallons = 11.0 gallons? Strike water @ 175F?

I dunno what to say...Just give us your grains in lbs and well give you a good schedule.

Ivan Lendl said:

Yeah, thats some crazy recipe....4.0 gallons + 5.0 gallons = 11.0 gallons? Strike water @ 175F?

I dunno what to say...

Click to expand...

Its cheese's cream ale.

Ryanh1801 said:

Its cheese's cream ale.

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My calculation says 3.5 gallon @ 165F (strike) will get you 152F (1.5 qts/lbs=9.5 lbs grain)
Then just sparge with +/-5 gallons and collect 7gallons.

If you figure .1 X 1 lbs gallon loss 3.5 gallons + 4.5 gallon=7 gallons total run-off or wort collected pre-boil

If you must do a mash out just add 5.8 qts boiling water to reach 168F then adjust sparge water, maybe 4 g's...

Thats what I would do, but its not my recipe.
His recipe doesnt have a schedule, just P.M. him.

edit: oops there is a schedule, nevermind...

Thanks, Im not doing that one next, got to do a sumer beer first, but i was just looking at different recipes in the database and saw that along with a few others, that seemed like a lot of volume. Thanks again for the help.

Thats cool...I dont have pro-mash I just use this for calculations:
Mash Calc.

Just plug in the numbers, you figure the mash thickness by multiplying the total grain by whatever ratio you want, (ex. 1.5X9.5 lbs=3.56 gallons)

I usually adjust the ratio to fit a nice even number, like 3.5 gallons, but thats just me, Im inprecise.

Its cheasy easy and accurate.

I think your preboil volume for a 5 gal batch needs to be between 6 and 7 gal depending on your evap rate and boil time. Most recommendations I have seen call for a 90 min boil. In my setup that is between 1 and 1.5gal. I usually aim for a little more than 5 gal in the fermenter so I shoot for 6.5gal preboil volume.
A 30qt pot fits a boil of this size but you have to watch closely for boil-overs.
Your total water requirements will be considerably larger as the grain absorbs about .13gal/lb and you will have a little dead space in the mash tun. Plus it is a good idea to have a little extra water just incase. So for your 6.5 gal boil you will need around 8.5 or more gallons of water.

Craig

I've done 8 AGs so far, I've had between 7 and 7.5 gals of wort pre-boil. I have a 30qt pot as well and it has done fine. I've had a few boil overs, they suck really bad, but you just turn down the heat, let it settle, once they are done then the boil will go quite well.

Ryanh1801 said:

Like i said I could be reading this wrong, some of the terms are still foreign to me.
01:33:00 Mash In - Liquor: 4.0 gal; Strike: 175.0 °F
01:35:36 Mash Out - Heat: 2.6 min; Target: 168.0 °F
02:20:36 Sparge - Sparge: 5.0 gal sparge @ 170.0 °F, 11.0 gal collected, 45.0 min; Total Runoff: 11.0 gal

and yes i already have a spray bottle to help with boil overs, that and I don't let my brews leave my sight once i start. Im probably a little to paranoid.

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I had no clue how to use Beer Tools when I posted that. I'll edit it soon.

Coincidentally, I made this batch with very little lactose or vanilla. It's turning into quite an interesting variation - quite hoppy.

Just cut the recipe in half. You dont NEED to make a ten gallon batch if thats not what you want. Or if you want a smaller batch there are a million free beer calculators on the net that will size the batch to what you want.