Help with 1st brew - calculations etc.

[monkeydan]

Hello all

I am preparing for my first brew day this weekend with a friend (who only has 1 extract brew to his name) and have decided to jump straight into AG for my first batch (a maris otter / amarillo SMaSH). It will be a stovetop boil although we do have a converted coolbox mash tun.

I'm brewing over at a friend's house and have just discovered that the stock pot we will be using for the boil is only 20 litres (just over 5 gallons). The recipe I am using (Edcculus's Amarillo Smash, https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f66/edcculuss-amarillo-smash-80137/) starts off with a 6.42 gal boil size which we will not be able to accommodate.

Will we be able to boil a smaller amount of wort and just add water to the fermenter at the end? Even if we can, I'm worried about not having enough space in the kettle to account for the sparge water etc. - how would I calculate this? If the kettle is only 5 gallons would we only want 4 gallons or so in there just in case?

Could anyone help please? I'm sure I will think of some more questions but this is the most pressing issue. I have done my research but the closer brew day comes the more worried I'm getting!

Thanks

 

[Suthrncomfrt1884]

AG beers shouldn't be done unless you have at least a 7 gallon kettle at minimum. Adding water will only dilute the beer you're making. You'd have to figure in the concentration factor of wort and try to hit your mark by increasing the gravity of the wort pre-boil. I'm not saying you can't do it, I'm saying "what's the point?" Maybe you should attempt a 3 gallon batch until you're able to get a bigger pot.

 

[monkeydan]

Well, the point for me is 5 gallons of beer rather than 3

Basically if there is a way to do this then I would like to give it a go! I'll chalk it down to experience and look for a bigger kettle next time. I'm not too familiar with the maths (yes, maths, I'm English!) needed to calculate the gravity needed to be able to dilute it. I will have a think about it when I'm not at work

 

[Suthrncomfrt1884]

Try a program like Beertools, promash, or beersmith. You'll eventually want to purchase one of them anyways, so it's good to get familair with the free trials now. You can enter your ingredients into that and it will do the math for you.