All grain equipment ?

[jafo28]

So, i'm in the process of making the switch to all grain. I just got a 40qt brew pot, and i'm wondering if any of you guys tried boiling 7 or 8 gallons of water just to get a boil off rate? Any advice would be appreciated, thanks.

 

[Whut]

Can't speak for NJ but here in the SW I start with 13g to arrive at 10g. This accounts for boil off and what's left in the bottom with the Trub.

But to be sure, give 7/8g a boil for 60 minutes and find out what's left. Good luck!

 

[wacko]

Yeah you can do that if you have a lot of gas to play with and want to see how it is.
Jafo's right though, it should be around a gallon an hour. Not a huge deal though, you can add water or boil extra if you're far off.

 

[bad coffee]

Just F'ing brew something! Go for a normal pale ale, something you won't (necessarily) want to enter into a contest. See how much you boil off.

Take notes, and adjust when you brew a beer you need to hit the numbers on.

B

 

[Revvy]

If it's an aluminum kettle, you need to boil water in order to set the passive oxide layer or whatever it is called, so you might as well kill two birds with one stone and measure your boiloff rate. If it's SS it's not necessary to set the layer than you can just brew your first batch of beer and measure. The thing about it is that, if you are decent in your effieciency and hit your pre-boil gravity, if your boiloff is higher than you anticipate your gravity will be off just the right amount that topping off to your final volume will bring it to the right og. If you have too much then you either can leave it behind, try to jam it in the fermenter and use a boiloff tube, or put it in another container (like a gallon jug) and ferment that.

 

[rico567]

I start the boil at 6.5, finish somewhere 5 - 5.5. Of course, I don't go for the "Mt. St. Helens Eruption" type of boil, either.

 

[jafo28]

Thanks for the advice guys. I guess i'll just go to my LHBS and get some ingredients and start brewing! BTW, Revvy it's stainless. Thanks again guys.

 

[Sean]

Well, for what it's worth, I think water would boil off more quickly that wort.

 

[sensortech]

Like what others have said, figure about a gallon per hour. When I switched to all grain last year it was the BEST thing I've ever done, every beer has been outstanding. Each brew I learned a new lesson, so you will be refining your process quite a bit. I now have a really efficient way of brewing.