Starting water went wrong

[aechavar]

Hello, I just finished my second brew, i must admitt that I finished quite disappointed. Brewersfriend.com said that I needed 9 L of water to make 1 gallon of beer. I did my mash, and boiled for 60 minutes but I ended up with much more than 1 gallon of wort. I had to throw away the excess because I did not have any other carboy to put it into

Any tips for calculating initial water to be used??? Also, do you Think throwing away Half of it Will ruin my Batch?

 

[BeerHolic]

You need to decide the starting gravity (i.e. original gravity = OG)
How many gallons. (gallons = V)
ppg of the malt, different malts have different ppg. (pounds per gallon)
weight of each malt. Weight = W
So for each malt: gravity = ppg x W/V
OG = gravity of all malts added together.

Due to losses and loss of water due to boiling the initial volume will be lower.
There losses will differ from system to system, an approximation is to add 20% extra water.

 

[IslandLizard]

[Edited for accuracy and clarity]

9L = 2.4 U.S. gallons
1 U.S. gallon = 3.8 liters

For ease of use, I recommend using one system of measurements, the one you're most familiar with. And convert everything else that's not, into the one you do know (and understand). Metric or US system, whatever is easiest and works for you.

To end up with 3.5 liters of wort in your fermenter, start adding your losses to that:

• 3.5 liters - target volume in fermenter
• + 2 liters - evaporated during the hour boil: 3.5 + 2.0 = 5.5 liters.
• + 2 liters absorbed by your (est.) 5# of grain, after given it a good squeeze at the end of the mash: 5.5 + 2.0 = 7.5 liters.

So you'd start a full volume mash with 7.5 liters of water.

If you want to incorporate a sparge, mash with with a good half of that (4-5 liters). After lautering (thoroughly draining), add the remainder (2.5-3.5 liters) of the water, stir well, then drain too and add to your first runnings. You should have around 5.5 liters in the kettle, ready to boil.

Or use one of the many online calculators.

I had to throw away the excess because I did not have any other carboy to put it into

You could have filled some bottles with the remainder, and leave the lids on loosely.
Or put a piece of sanitized cloth or plastic wrap loosely over the opening.

Please note:
Don't fill your fermenter all the way to the top. Leave some headspace, at least 1/4-1/3 of the batch's volume, to contain the foam.

Also, do you Think throwing away Half of it Will ruin my Batch?

No not ruined, just much weaker.
You threw out half your batch because you had too much wort. Because you had double the volume of wort, its gravity was half of what you intended. Therefore you ended up with wort that was only half the intended gravity/strength.

 

[hotbeer]

Till you learn what all your correction factors are for grain absorption, boil off and all those other things, just short your water in the sparge or mash. Then you can top it off during the boil or even after the boil when it's in the FV.

 

[aechavar]

[Edited for accuracy and clarity]

9L = 2.4 U.S. gallons
1 U.S. gallon = 3.8 liters

For ease of use, I recommend using one system of measurements, the one you're most familiar with. And convert everything else that's not, into the one you do know (and understand). Metric or US system, whatever is easiest and works for you.

To end up with 3.5 liters of wort in your fermenter, start adding your losses to that:

• 3.5 liters - target volume in fermenter
• + 2 liters - evaporated during the hour boil: 3.5 + 2.0 = 5.5 liters.
• + 2 liters absorbed by your (est.) 5# of grain, after given it a good squeeze at the end of the mash: 5.5 + 2.0 = 7.5 liters.

So you'd start a full volume mash with 7.5 liters of water.

If you want to incorporate a sparge, mash with with a good half of that (4-5 liters). After lautering (thoroughly draining), add the remainder (2.5-3.5 liters) of the water, stir well, then drain too and add to your first runnings. You should have around 5.5 liters in the kettle, ready to boil.

Or use one of the many online calculators.


You could have filled some bottles with the remainder, and leave the lids on loosely.
Or put a piece of sanitized cloth or plastic wrap loosely over the opening.

Please note:
Don't fill your fermenter all the way to the top. Leave some headspace, at least 1/4-1/3 of the batch's volume, to contain the foam.


No not ruined, just much weaker.
You threw out half your batch because you had too much wort. Because you had double the volume of wort, its gravity was half of what you intended. Therefore you ended up with wort that was only half the intended gravity/strength.

Bro thank you so much for your response. Much clear now. Today I bottled that batch, it tastes fine, I guess. It is not as strong as I wanted, off course I had too much water but at least it doesn't taste bad. Today I did the experiment to find out how much Lt of water evaporates per hour on my stovetop and I found out that 1.78 Lt evaporated in that hour, so I will be taking that into account for my next brew. Not sure how to calculate for 1 Kg of malt aborbtion.

 

[VikeMan]

Not sure how to calculate for 1 Kg of malt aborbtion.

In the absence of your own data, figure 0.12 gallons (american) per pound of grain, and adjust from there as you gain data points.

Or do a small test mash and actually measure it.