Brutus fly-sparging H2O amount

[pieper]

Howdy -

So I am firing up my Brutus this Sunday for the first time! I am very excited to use my new set up after spending many, many hours putting the system together and also b/c I am going all-grain for the first time.

My question: On the Brutus, how much H2O should I prepare to use for a 17.25# grain bill?

-- I plan on using .33 gals. per lbs. of grain for the mash
-- I am brewing a 5 gal batch

Any suggestions will surely help.

Thanks,

pieper

 

[Desert_Sky]

5.31 gallon @ 1.25 qt/lb

 

[pieper]

That is what I thought I read on the sticky but wouldn't that mean that I would use about 11.08 gal of h20? (5.39 for the sparge and 5.69 for the mash). That seems really high.

I understand that the mash will soak up some water but how much will I then have in my kettle after sparging?

Thanks again,

pieper

 

[Lil' Sparky]

WHAT? YOU BUILT A BRUTUS CLONE AND YOU'VE NEVER BREWED ALL GRAIN BEFORE!?!?!

I don't even know what to say to that. How about: Way to go, you're completely nuts, and I hope your first all grain on your BRUTUS 10 is a success... freak.

BTW, you'll get all kinds of answers on this one. Mainly because that's a BIG grain bill, not a normal 1.050 OG beer. 11 gals water total is about right because the grain will absorbe a good amount + you'll lose from evaporation during the boil. I would've suggested something more conservative for your first go at AG, but I'm sure you'll have a blast with it. You'll need to learn your system before you'll be able to hit all you numbers right on.

Here's what I would suggest if you're going to stick with this grain bill:

Mash a little thicker so you can have more sparge water, which I think you need for this large grain bill. So 4.5 gals of strike water is .26 gal/lb. Sparge with 4.4 gals for a pre-boil volume of 6.75 gals. A 60 min boil should get you to 5.5 gals post-boil. If you want to use more sparge water, you have to boil longer to reduce the volume, but I wouldn't suggest this for your first go-round. Good luck!

One more thing... Now that you're going all grain, buy Beersmith if you haven't already. It makes all these calculations a snap.

 

[Boerderij_Kabouter]

Who are you kidding... why fly sparge if you are still gonna do all the water volume calculations. Fill your HLT keggle to the brim, bring it to temp, and sparge till your numbers match I have found it is never a problem having too much water.

Also, I would heat your strike water in your MLT if you have the capability. It will heat faster because of the lower volume and you will preheat your MLT Keggle.

Have fun with that beast... Pics?

 

[pieper]

Well I wasn't planning on necessarily measuring out my sparge water in my HLT before hand but didn't want to end up with 8 gals in my kettle and have to boil for 2 hours to reduce it to about 5.5 gals.

I guess another way of looking at it -- what would be the ideal s.g. of the run-off to tell me when I should stop sparging?

I know I went a bit crazy on my first all-grain but I cant help it. It took me 5 months to build my Brutus and I haven't brewed since December. I am ready to roll!

Thanks for the advice everyone -

pieper

 

[Boerderij_Kabouter]

I just measure the volume in my kettle. If I know I want 12 gallons in the kettle, I just sparge until I have 12 gallons int he kettle. I use markings on my mash paddle to measure my kettle volume. I also use a refractometer to keep tabs on my runnings gravity, and gravity in the kettle. I highly suggest this tool for fly sparging, it isn't necessary, but it is really cool and helpful.

 

[pieper]

Well on my spurge during the Brutus build I also picked up a refractometer. What is the usual reading when you are done sparging?

 

[wildwest450]

If you can afford a fancy all grain setup, go the extra mile and spend $20 for brewing software, all your water volume questions will be answered.

 

[Boerderij_Kabouter]

This is a pretty good conversion chart.

You don't want your final runnings under 1.010. So stop at 2.5 brix.

 

[Lil' Sparky]

I've got my system down where I plug my recipe into Beersmith and measure my volumes before hand. My volume into the carboy(s) is usually within a qt of my target. I really like that. No guesswork for me anymore. I don't take gravity readings until I get the wort into the carboy, but I don't really worry about it. Again, once you're familiar with what your efficiency is, you can nail your OG numbers, too. My last several brews have been within 1 or two pts of my target.

Note: I should qualify the above with the fact that I batch sparge, so emptying the HLT and MLT during the sparge isn't a problem.

 

[pieper]

Great, that is good to know.

Thanks again.

 

[pieper]

repeat post

 

[thooper41]

This is a pretty good conversion chart.

You don't want your final runnings under 1.010. So stop at 2.5 brix.

why is this? just to save time?