Poor post boil yeild need advice

[MSKBeerfan]

Okay so need some advice before I attempt another brewing session.
I have not yet checked on Beer Smith to see what adjustments may be needed.

I calculated a 6 gallon batch on Beer Smith of a mildly hoppy IPA.
Collected 8 gallons of Wort.

My issue is rapid boiling...
In the 55 minutes of boil time this morning, I boiled off 2 Gallons of Wort.
I am in essence making Imperial beers every time I brew.

What adjustments do I need to make if I boil for only 30 minutes to prevent such a loss?

 

[flars]

Seems like you are right on to have 6 gallons. Five minutes less for boil time won't make any difference. You could reduce the vigor of your boil to end with more volume or collect an extra half gallon to maintain your boil intensity.

 

[brewbama]

Turn down the heat. Think simmer vs boil.

 

[Jwin]

Turn down the heat. Think simmer vs boil.

This.
Once hot break occurs(first few minutes), drop it to a slow roll
If bubbles are coming up, you're to high. As long as the wort is moving, it's good.
Also, no hard and fast rules on boil time. 30 or 45 works fine, especially if you are using 2 row as a base. DMS is mostly akin to pilsner malt.

Now, more info would help
What size kettle
Gas or electric
Mash tun or biab?

Next time, drop the boil rate and add an extra half gallon to your sparge. See where that gets you.
You can add the half gallon in beersmith in your mash tun deadspace box, so it will account for it.
Get a good measurement of pre and post boil volumes after dropping the boil intensity and check your boil off rate vs beersmith. Adjust as needed.

Cheers.

 

[John Eberly]

Okay so need some advice before I attempt another brewing session.
I have not yet checked on Beer Smith to see what adjustments may be needed.

I calculated a 6 gallon batch on Beer Smith of a mildly hoppy IPA.
Collected 8 gallons of Wort.

My issue is rapid boiling...
In the 55 minutes of boil time this morning, I boiled off 2 Gallons of Wort.
I am in essence making Imperial beers every time I brew.

What adjustments do I need to make if I boil for only 30 minutes to prevent such a loss?

I think you should focus on the gravity of your product and not on the volume. What were you aiming for with O.G. and what did you end up at?

What is it that you want to change? You calculated a 6 gallon batch and that's what you got, no? Evaporation is part of the process, a rolling boil and liquid loss are part of making beer.

If your finishing gravity is too high, cut back on the grain/extracts.

If you want shorter boils, you can do that but you'll need to cut back on the liquid you put in the kettle or you'll have thin beer.

 

[MSKBeerfan]

Thanks for the continued information on this:
I use an All Grain Three Kettle Electric System - It's a clone of Kal's and is actually the first controller he produced commercially.

My kettles are 20 Gallon capacity so i have plenty of space.

John, the problem is I am not hitting my SF Gravity Ratings and I am not getting anywhere near 6 gallons in my fermenter. I am overshooting SFG due to the boil off, ending up with high ABV beers. (I don't typically complain) I just hate it when I plan on a full keg of beer and end up with about half a keg, after primary and secondary fermentation is over.

I am brewing up a Stout this weekend to age in a Bourbon Barrel I will lower the temp to just get a Simmer after the hot break and see how that works out for me in volume.

 

[Revvy]

Don't forget, that in that case if you top off in the fermenter before yeast pitch (just like an extract brewer does) by the exact amount of water you have boiled away, you will then get your gravity for the correct post boil volume.

When you are boiling away the water, you are concentrating the wort... and when you top off, then you are dilluting the wort back down, which will drive the gravity down.

You can calculate it using the Dillution tool in Beersmith.. but it's magic... it really does just re-adjust when you top it off by exactly the correct amount.

That's how I do 5 gallon top off stovetop all grain recipes on my stove top. I explain in detail about it here.

In the future, dial back your burner. I had a similar issue. After my house fire my burner had rusted, and my first brew day it was sooty and smoky, so afterwords I opened up the cast iron and scraped it shiny with a wire brush, and the next time i nearly boiled half my batch away, the burner was so efficient now. So I have to dial my boil back to a rolling simmer.

 

[Jwin]

A 5g batch in a 20g kettle will have a lot of boil off, regardless.
Dial the burner back, get good volume measurements, and adjust boil off in beersmith once you have it down pat after adjustments.
BTW, that's a hell of a rig for a beginner AG Brewer.

 

[jurgenph]

as others sugegsted, boild less violently

and/or start with a larger pre-boil volume. use more sparge water to make up for the extra volume that you're boilig off.

also, adjust your boil off rate in your recipe calculater.


J.

 

[acidrain]

adjust boil off in beersmith once you have it down pat after adjustments.

This

Beersmith works for you, not the other way around. Find your true boil off rate in volume, and enter it.
In fact, enter all of your brew house perameters in an equipment profile, then name and save it. You can have many equipment profiles depending on how you are brewing/what equipment you are using that day.

 

[Brewsncrabs]

This and double check all of your losses. BeerSmith takes several brews to dial in.

"Also, adjust your boil off rate in your recipe calculater."

 

[DurtyChemist]

What was your measured OG?

What was the OG supposed to be?

This could tell us a lot to help you more specifically. Most of the other information will help but if you're boiling 2 gallons and overshooting your OG it's one thing. If you're boiling off 2 gallons and nailing your numbers it's another thing.

 

[kh54s10]

The amount you boil off will not have any effect on the OG of the beer unless you don't account for it. If you boil off 2 gallons per hour, I do, and your gravity is too high the solution is to use less malt.

If Beersmith knows your boil off rate is 2 gallons per hour and you want to make a 1.040 beer, it will calculate the amount of malts you need. If it doesn't your settings are wrong.

You need to make adjustments in Beersmith to make it meet your needs. Most of the important constants are in your equipment profile.