learningmore
Active Member
TastyBrew's
Sparge Calculator notes the amount of grain bill scaling that needs to happen depending on (seemingly) how inefficient my system is (it takes into account the wort lost in dead space, etc.)
So my questions is, every batch sparger MUST scale up their grain bill when using an untested recipe, correct? If Jane Home-brewer opened a book that discussed an all-grain recipe expecting a fly sparge, she would immediately kick up the grain bill accordingly.. right? I think I regularly need to scale up to about 1.2 Lbs of grain vs 1lb of normal recipe grain. I used the software app Beer Alchemy and I'm pretty sure I scaled up correctly.
My other question is: Do you adjust on the fly according to what your mash/ sparge hydrometer readings are? If so, do you all take the reading at the very high sparge temperatures and then just calculate the difference of temperature to get a correct hydrometer reading? Bobby and others track their hydrometer readings before boil, after boil, etc. and it seems they want to track the efficiency of their system, and then adjust to get close to their recipe OG (by tossing in LME or DME to raise the OG or adding water to lower the EG). Is that correct?
I was stressing about what to do if my hydrometer readings are at 150 C and I do math to factor the "real" reader. I worry this would not be as exact and throw me off regarding how to track my efficiency.
I've only done 2 extract brews and 2 all-grain brews (both fun, both somewhat disasters- equipment failure- but I hit my temps) and I feel I have a general understanding of what is happening. I like the idea of batch sparging, but I'm attempting to understand how to adapt recipes to the batch sparge workflow.
(IE: scaling grain bills up, modifying recipe's recommendations concerning how to sparge to my own batch sparge workflow, etc.)
For example, some recipes called for a single-infusion mash or a stepped mash. Do you all follow the recipe as noted or do you modify it for your own method of double-sparge?
Sparge Calculator notes the amount of grain bill scaling that needs to happen depending on (seemingly) how inefficient my system is (it takes into account the wort lost in dead space, etc.)
So my questions is, every batch sparger MUST scale up their grain bill when using an untested recipe, correct? If Jane Home-brewer opened a book that discussed an all-grain recipe expecting a fly sparge, she would immediately kick up the grain bill accordingly.. right? I think I regularly need to scale up to about 1.2 Lbs of grain vs 1lb of normal recipe grain. I used the software app Beer Alchemy and I'm pretty sure I scaled up correctly.
My other question is: Do you adjust on the fly according to what your mash/ sparge hydrometer readings are? If so, do you all take the reading at the very high sparge temperatures and then just calculate the difference of temperature to get a correct hydrometer reading? Bobby and others track their hydrometer readings before boil, after boil, etc. and it seems they want to track the efficiency of their system, and then adjust to get close to their recipe OG (by tossing in LME or DME to raise the OG or adding water to lower the EG). Is that correct?
I was stressing about what to do if my hydrometer readings are at 150 C and I do math to factor the "real" reader. I worry this would not be as exact and throw me off regarding how to track my efficiency.
I've only done 2 extract brews and 2 all-grain brews (both fun, both somewhat disasters- equipment failure- but I hit my temps) and I feel I have a general understanding of what is happening. I like the idea of batch sparging, but I'm attempting to understand how to adapt recipes to the batch sparge workflow.
(IE: scaling grain bills up, modifying recipe's recommendations concerning how to sparge to my own batch sparge workflow, etc.)
For example, some recipes called for a single-infusion mash or a stepped mash. Do you all follow the recipe as noted or do you modify it for your own method of double-sparge?