Amount of water?

[Dsphere]

Hello all, It's been years since I've brewed but I'm getting back into it. I'm using a recipe for a Belgian Quad and it says 8.2 gallons of water. I forget how this is done. Would that be the total amount for my strike water to use in my mash, or would this be the final volume for boiling in the kettle? Forgive my nube question and thanks in advance! Here's the recipe if that matters.

• 8.2 gallons of water
• 20lbs pilsner malt
• 5lbs Munich malt, Germany
• 1lbs aromatic malt
• 10.4oz special B
• 2 lbs. D-180 candi syrup
• 2 lbs. cane sugar
• 2 ounces Hallertau hops
• 2 ounces East Kent Goldings hops

 

[jschein]

What size batch?
You should plug in the recipe in an online calculator

 

[Dsphere]

What size batch?
You should plug in the recipe in an online calculator

My goal is 5 gallons. I put the ingredients into Brewtarget and it's saying the target batch is 5.5 gallons and 6.250 boil size. But the 8.2 gallons in the recipe is confusing me.

 

[jschein]

Your malts are off, should it be 2Lbs if Pilsner?
I use about 8 gallons of water for 5 gallon batches but only about 12 pounds of grain. I plugged yours into BrewersFriend and it calculates a 13% beer

 

[jschein]

I use about 5 gallons of strike water and 3 gallons sparge

 

[Dsphere]

I use about 5 gallons of strike water and 3 gallons sparge

Ah okay, thanks. That sounds about right. And yes, the recipe calls for 20lbs of Pilsner. It's supposed to be around 13-15% If you're curious this is the link to it.
https://www.clawhammersupply.com/blogs/brewing/belgian-quad-recipe#age

 

[day_trippr]

Perhaps the recipe is accounting for equipment losses as well as grain and hop absorptions.
From where did the recipe originate?

Cheers!

 

[kevin58]

Start at the end volume and work your way backwards. You want 5 gallons when all is said and done so add to that what you expect to lose in the fermenter... then add what you expect to lose in evaporation during the boil plus any trub left behind in the kettle.... next add what you expect to lose to grain absorption during the mash. That's the short and shoddy answer but there will be other variables such as how you mash, how you sparge etc.

Then there is brewing software which should calculate it all out for you.

 

[mac_1103]

I plugged yours into BrewersFriend and it calculates a 13% beer

I'm getting almost 17%. I think you missed the candi syrup and cane sugar. If I make it 11 gallons into the fermenter then it's 8.45%. No idea where 8.2 gallons of water is coming from.

I'd cut the recipe in half and use about 8 gallons of water total.

 

[jschein]

I'm getting almost 17%. I think you missed the candi syrup and cane sugar. If I make it 11 gallons into the fermenter then it's 8.45%. No idea where 8.2 gallons of water is coming from.

I'd cut the recipe in half and use about 8 gallons of water total.

Yeah I didn’t add the sugars only the malt

 

[mac_1103]

the recipe calls for 20lbs of Pilsner. It's supposed to be around 13-15% If you're curious this is the link to it.

OK, so then the 8.2 gallons of water is based on the equipment and process they used. And if this recipe "tops out" at 15% then their efficiency is only around 60%. If you have a different system, YMMV.

 

[redrocker652002]

I don't have much to add other than for me, a 5 gallon batch is usually about 5 gallons of mash water, loss of about half of a gallon, then about 2 to 3 gallons of sparge water. About 7 gallons or so in the boil and I end up with about 5.5 to 6 gallons post boil. I usually end up with about a half gallon in the boil kettle that seems to be mostly just crud. LOL. Most of my batches have been between 5 to 5.5 gallons in the fermenter. I don't have all my notes with me as I am at work, so this is a very rough estimate as I am still trying to get my amounts right.

 

[hotbeer]

If you didn't adjust the numbers in BrewTarget's equipment profile to match the actual numbers you were getting from previous batches, then you only have their guess that may not be anything close to what you get.

Make your beer. Measure by weight or volume everything you use. And note by weight or volume the wort your get from your mash and the before and after of the boil. Then you'll be able to adjust those number in the equipment profile and be more accurate on future brews.

You also need to figure out what your efficiency is also and adjust that number in BrewTarget. It's default value might be higher than what you get. Or lower.

 

[JAReeves]

This is a quick-n-dirty version I threw together for you. It's probably off in lots of places, this one is asking for almost 2 more gallons of H2O, for example.

 

[Dsphere]

Thanks guys. The brew is fermenting right now. The bucket lid looks like a volcano about to pop!

 

[redrocker652002]

Thanks guys. The brew is fermenting right now. The bucket lid looks like a volcano about to pop!

You do have an airlock on it, right? Might want to think about a blowoff tube if the airlock plugs up. That stuff is nasty to clean up

 

[JAReeves]

You do have an airlock on it, right? Might want to think about a blowoff tube if the airlock plugs up. That stuff is nasty to clean up

Some of us have had to clean krausen off the ceiling. It can stain paint. Trust me.

 

[Dsphere]

You do have an airlock on it, right? Might want to think about a blowoff tube if the airlock plugs up. That stuff is nasty to clean up

Yeah, it's got a blow off tube into a bowl off Star sanz but I still had to clean a big puddle off the floor when I woke up.

 

[redrocker652002]

Yeah, it's got a blow off tube into a bowl off Star sanz but I still had to clean a big puddle off the floor when I woke up.

Been there done that. LOL. All part of the learning process. Good thing, at least in my mind, your fermentation is rocking it. LOL.

 

[redrocker652002]

Some of us have had to clean krausen off the ceiling. It can stain paint. Trust me.

It's a b@%&* to clean off the sides of a mini fridge too. LOL. Simple green an a scrub brush worked OK. Gonna get a tube that will fit the bung on my fermenting bucket and drop it in some starsan next time.

 

[Dsphere]

Well, it's been 8 weeks. I checked it at 4 weeks and the ABV was 9.2%. 8 weeks later and it's the same. OG is 1.150 and ended up at 1.08. One other formula for higher gravity says it might be 11.6%. Anybody have any thoughts on that?

 

[mac_1103]

Thoughts on it being stuck at 1.080, or thoughts on the other formula?

For the former, I think you're in a tough spot. You have a lot of unfermented sugar in there and a very harsh environment to try to get fermentation to start up again. It's also possible that some of that 1.080 is unfermentable, but that's just speculation.

 

[IslandLizard]

OG is 1.150 and ended up at 1.08.

1.080 yeah?
What instrument are you using to measure the final gravity?

 

[Dsphere]

1.080 yeah?
What instrument are you using to measure the final gravity?

Just a hydrometer and a little test tube.

 

[hotbeer]

Are you certain you are reading the scale correctly? Some might lead you to think 1.008 is 1.080.

 

[mac_1103]

If the OG really was 1.150 and the FG is 1.008 then the beer would be more than 18.5% ABV. Not sure what yeast the OP used, but I doubt that the recommended WLP500 can do that.

 

[IslandLizard]

Just a hydrometer and a little test tube.

And the hydrometer was not bottoming out?
And calibration had been checked in 68F/20C distilled (or RO) water?

How did that sample taste?
I reckon quite sweet, being at 1.080, which is very high for an FG.

Well, it's been 8 weeks. I checked it at 4 weeks and the ABV was 9.2%. 8 weeks later and it's the same.

Gravity being the same after 4 and 8 weeks surely hints to your beer having reached terminal gravity, for the yeast used in that environment.

Did you make a yeast starter?
How much yeast did you pitch?
Added any yeast nutrients?