I am somewhat new to brewing and have made about 5 all grain batches so far. I use a 10 gallon igloo cooler MLT and recently bought a 11.5 gallon keggle. I make 5 gallon batches. I have had a somewhat hit and miss experience with all grain. My efficiencies have ranged from 50% to 88% but most have been in the high 60s to mid 70s.
My last batch was the first time I used my new keggle (not that it should matter much) and I ended up without enough wort. My preboil volume was off by about 1.25 gallons (5 gallons instead of 6.25).
I was hoping to get some insight on two things - how do I calculate much water to use and what guidelines are there for mash temps and times when you are creating your own recipe or using an existing ingredient list?
How much water do I need to end up with 5.0 - 5.5 gallons of chilled wort in the fermenter? My last batch was 8.25 pounds of grist. So I figured:
5.0 gallons (what I want to end up with)
1.25 gallons boil off
1 gallon for grain absorbtion
.5 gallon left over in the MLT and keggle (what won't drain)
This adds up to 7.75 gallons which I rounded to 8. I was creating my recipe so I decided to mash at 152* for 60 min. I started with 5 gallons and figured I would sparge with 3. Somehow I ended up with only 5 gallons of wort preboil. Did I miss something? If this happens in the future, should I quickly heat up another gallon or two of water and do a second sparge?
When creating your own recipe like this how should I figure out mash temps and times? Based on some instructions with the few recipes I've used in the past I aimed for a mash temp of 152 for 60 min, then I add sparge water for 20 min. Is this something I should use for pretty much everthing? I made a belgian triple (karmeleit klone) that mashed for 90 minutes and boiled for 90 minutes. Does this depend on the grains used?
Just looking for some insight as I start to create my own recipes.
My last batch was the first time I used my new keggle (not that it should matter much) and I ended up without enough wort. My preboil volume was off by about 1.25 gallons (5 gallons instead of 6.25).
I was hoping to get some insight on two things - how do I calculate much water to use and what guidelines are there for mash temps and times when you are creating your own recipe or using an existing ingredient list?
How much water do I need to end up with 5.0 - 5.5 gallons of chilled wort in the fermenter? My last batch was 8.25 pounds of grist. So I figured:
5.0 gallons (what I want to end up with)
1.25 gallons boil off
1 gallon for grain absorbtion
.5 gallon left over in the MLT and keggle (what won't drain)
This adds up to 7.75 gallons which I rounded to 8. I was creating my recipe so I decided to mash at 152* for 60 min. I started with 5 gallons and figured I would sparge with 3. Somehow I ended up with only 5 gallons of wort preboil. Did I miss something? If this happens in the future, should I quickly heat up another gallon or two of water and do a second sparge?
When creating your own recipe like this how should I figure out mash temps and times? Based on some instructions with the few recipes I've used in the past I aimed for a mash temp of 152 for 60 min, then I add sparge water for 20 min. Is this something I should use for pretty much everthing? I made a belgian triple (karmeleit klone) that mashed for 90 minutes and boiled for 90 minutes. Does this depend on the grains used?
Just looking for some insight as I start to create my own recipes.