First All grain batch---something isn't adding up!

Ok, so I am going to make my first all grain batch and I am going off of a pretty vague clone recipe for the Stone IPA Ruination. 5 Gallon batch

I've got 15 lbs of grain and it's asking me to mash with 1.5qts/lb of grain= 5.625 Gallons.

Then its saying that I should sparge with 2 qts per lb of grain= 7.5 gallons

So, I am looking at a total boil of 13 gallons?????

Perhaps someone could show me where I've gone wrong, or, give me another solution.

Thanks

How big is your kettle?

You can mash at 1.25 quarts/lb of grain, but going below that would likely get pretty thick. I'm not sure I've ever gone with less than 1.25/lb, so somebody else may know better from experience. 1.5 is more than I've done.

Don't forget absorption of approx .1gallons/lb of grain, so back that out of your boil numbers.

For sparge water, you'll just add as much as you need to make up your final boil volume. You won't likely need 7.5 gallons for that.

So, at 1.25 qts/gallon, you're looking at just over 4.5 gallons mash water less absorption of 1.5ish gallons, plus sparge water to make up final volume.

You need about 7.5 gallons pre boil...

What software are you using? It is compensating for some HUGE system water loss or large boil off rate would be my guess.

realestatecat said:

Ok, so I am going to make my first all grain batch and I am going off of a pretty vague clone recipe for the Stone IPA Ruination. 5 Gallon batch

I've got 15 lbs of grain and it's asking me to mash with 1.5qts/lb of grain= 5.625 Gallons.

Then its saying that I should sparge with 2 qts per lb of grain= 7.5 gallons

So, I am looking at a total boil of 13 gallons?????

Perhaps someone could show me where I've gone wrong, or, give me another solution.

Thanks

Click to expand...

Shooting from the hip I'd say:

1.5 quarts per pound for mashing is fine. (You'll end up with maybe three gallons of wort)
Sparge with two 3 gallon batches and on the second batch sparge, stop at around 8 gallons pre-boil.

The bigger the beer, the longer you can expect to watch the pot boil.

Actually, I didn't even think about grain absorption.

Software I am using is Beer Smith.

I have a 10.5 gallon kettle.

realestatecat said:

Actually, I didn't even think about grain absorption.

Software I am using is Beer Smith.

I have a 10.5 gallon kettle.

Click to expand...

Grain absorption will only be about 2 gallons...

This is going to be a LOOONG night! I'm just heating up the strike as we speak. DOH!

realestatecat said:

This is going to be a LOOONG night! I'm just heating up the strike as we speak. DOH!

Click to expand...

Hard core. :rockin:

Either stop drinking now and let higher intelligence guide you.

Or drink more and receive drucken intervention from the brewing Gods.

Either way...you win.

ok, so I'm following a conglomerate of advice here, mainly yours ^^^^ and by warmth in my stomach and my desire for another beer, the intelligence and the drunken intervention are battling it out pretty darn good.

So, I am getting ready to sparge my first 3 gallons as you suggested. Do I just slowly pour it in after taking the first run off through and such? or is there a better method?

Well, man, you chose a very ambitious beer fir your first AG. Run your sparges off slowly. If you are batch sparging, stir the bejebers out of them and give them a good 10 minutes or so to rest. Sparge whatever you need to get the fermentables you need, and then boil off whatever you have to. Don't start tossing hops in the mix until you see where you are on the gravity curve (i.e., until you know when you've boiled off enough to reach your target gravity and volume).

And. although it's probably too late. sober up if you can. Brewing with a buzz can be an awful lot of fun, but it's no way to learn anything (other than brewing with a buzz tends to lead to many mistakes).

I hope this turns out well. No matter what, I strongly recommend an easier beer for your next AG brew. You need to learn a bunch of technique. Friggin' Ruination can be a challenge for even experienced brewers.


TL

^^^^

My wife has me doing the dishes after her friends were over and the wort is boiling up a storm now. I started with a 7.5 gallon boil and it looks light and theres a pretty low gravity.

I think I'm going to have to boil off quite a bit, and like you said, get down to the right gravity.

The buzz is gone and I'm just taking copious notes.

By the way, any guess on how long it takes to boil off 2 and half gallons?!

With a rigorous boil, I boil that off in about an hour and 45 min. Volume will shrink a bit as it cools down as well. You're brave to do your first AG batch that late. I did that once and got to bed at about 4am.

This has nothing to do with bravery, its called ignorance! I've got a volume of about 6.5 gallons now and a gravity of 1.054.

I think when I hit about 6 gallons, I'm going to go for the first hop drop.

Well, I cant complain. I wound up with a 1.070 OG and the recipe called for 1.072 and I still have a little fight left in me.

Thanks for the help on this one fellas. Next time, I'll start at noon, not 8 PM.

Geez, I was thinking of getting up to brew, and this guy is just going to bed. Glad it turned out ok.

Note to self: Start AG at 12 noon!

Also, how do I calculate volume for the amount of hops and other junk that falls out? It looks like I might only wind up with about 4.5 to 4.75 gallons.

realestatecat said:

Note to self: Start AG at 12 noon!

Also, how do I calculate volume for the amount of hops and other junk that falls out? It looks like I might only wind up with about 4.5 to 4.75 gallons.

Click to expand...

Up already......
I think it really depends on the type of beer, setup etc. I figure for every 5 gallon batch, I keep about 5.5 gallons in the boil pot. This leaves a half a gallon to soak up the trub/break material.