This is my second all grain batch today I brewed an IPA that required 14 pounds of grain. So I used my normal formulas. Amount of mash water is total pounds of grain multiplied by 0.375 to get 5.25 gallons of strike water. To get my amount of sparge water I multiplied my amount of mash water which was 5.25 multiplied by 1.5 to sparge with 7.8 gallons of water. In my kettle I at one point almost had 9 gallons which I had to drain out. Post boil I still had 7.5 gallons which I ultimately drained 4 more quarts out of to end up with 6 gallons of wort. What should I have done instead or is draining the wort fine too. I was targeting for 1.060 original gravity but ended up with 1.065 will this be bad for the beer? I pretty much had to drain a couple of gallons to yield 5 gallons.
Collected too much wort
- Thread starter Pgereffi
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You can either boil longer and end up with less wort with a higher gravity, or take some out and save it to do yeast starters. Not a problem boiling longer, you just end up with stronger beer. You obviously had better efficiency than what you planned on. After a few brews you can figure your average efficiency according to your equipment and processes, so you will get closer to hitting your numbers. Rdwhahb.
Do you use any software for calculating your volumes?
What's your boil-off rate?
How much do you lose to dead space in your MLT? How much do you lose to trub, etc?
You need to know all these to calculate your pre-boil & post-boil volumes to ultimately end up with a volume into your fermentor that will yield you a final 5 gal (I'm presuming that's your goal) for bottling or kegging.
Also, did you measure your pre & post boil SG?
What's your boil-off rate?
How much do you lose to dead space in your MLT? How much do you lose to trub, etc?
You need to know all these to calculate your pre-boil & post-boil volumes to ultimately end up with a volume into your fermentor that will yield you a final 5 gal (I'm presuming that's your goal) for bottling or kegging.
Also, did you measure your pre & post boil SG?
jekeane
Well-Known Member
Math? Honestly though I don't know.
I use, like most people a brewing software or spreadsheet that does all that for you.
Is there a reason you aren't just plugging a recipe into Brewers friend or whatever and getting your volumes from that.
I use, like most people a brewing software or spreadsheet that does all that for you.
Is there a reason you aren't just plugging a recipe into Brewers friend or whatever and getting your volumes from that.
A good way to get the "right" amount of wort for your system is to mash in with 1.25-1.5 quarts of water per pound of grain, and then just sparge up to your boil volume.
There are formulas, like in your post, where you can maximize efficiency by sparging up to the maximum you can. Well, you can spend three hours boiling, or you can just sparge up to your boil volume. Pro breweries may need to extract every point they can out of the grain, but with the cost of propane, it's not that efficient for most of us to do that.
So, for me, if I wanted to get to my 6.5 gallon preboil volume (what I need to get a finished 5 gallon batch- yours may differ), a simple recipe might look like this:
10 pounds of grain
10 x 1.5 quarts of water= 15 quarts. Call it 4 gallons, because I hate math.
Mash in with 4 gallons.
Realize that generally .125 gallons/pound of grain will be absorbed by the grain, so I will get approximately 2.75 gallons of first runnings.
I want 6.5 gallons of wort in my kettle, so that means I will use 3.75 gallons of sparge water.
If you're batch sparging, it's easy to just measure your first runnings and then use the amount you need to get to your desired boil volume.
If you're continous sparging (fly sparging), it's easy to just stop sparging when you reach your boil volume.
There are formulas, like in your post, where you can maximize efficiency by sparging up to the maximum you can. Well, you can spend three hours boiling, or you can just sparge up to your boil volume. Pro breweries may need to extract every point they can out of the grain, but with the cost of propane, it's not that efficient for most of us to do that.
So, for me, if I wanted to get to my 6.5 gallon preboil volume (what I need to get a finished 5 gallon batch- yours may differ), a simple recipe might look like this:
10 pounds of grain
10 x 1.5 quarts of water= 15 quarts. Call it 4 gallons, because I hate math.
Mash in with 4 gallons.
Realize that generally .125 gallons/pound of grain will be absorbed by the grain, so I will get approximately 2.75 gallons of first runnings.
I want 6.5 gallons of wort in my kettle, so that means I will use 3.75 gallons of sparge water.
If you're batch sparging, it's easy to just measure your first runnings and then use the amount you need to get to your desired boil volume.
If you're continous sparging (fly sparging), it's easy to just stop sparging when you reach your boil volume.
In other words just throw out all the math and just sparge with 5.5-6 gallons every time? I was thinking almost 8 gallons of sparge water is quite much. I know mashing water has to be a certain amount. So will throwing out some wort affect the flavor or beer in any way?
No, but why not keep the wort and ferment it? It's the same wort that is in the fermenter, so it would just be more beer.
You don't always sparge with 5-6 gallons every time. Generally, it's about 3.5-4.5 gallons in a 5 gallon batch, assuming 10 pounds of grain or more.
You don't even have to have a certain amount for your water in your mash; You can do a full volume, no-sparge mash if you want. Some people can't fit all of the water for the entire mash in their kettle, so they mash + sparge. There are a lot of ways to mash and none of them are wrong.
The easiest thing to do is to do whatever works for you in your system. For me, it's batch sparging. I mash with 1.5 quarts/water per pound of grain, since my pump can clog if it's thicker. More or less, I don't overly worry about the exact amount- if it's 15 quarts, I'll use 4 gallons because it's easier for me to measure instead of 3.75 gallons. It really doesn't matter.
I measure my first runnings, and then add the sparge water I'll need to get to my boil volume. I boil off 1.5 gallons per hour in the winter, so I'll start with 6.5 gallons if I'm making a 5 gallon batch. That means I usually will need about 3.75-4 gallons of sparge water.
Haha, 7.8-8 gallons is a butt load of "Sparge" water. Hell at most I Sparge with 4-5 gallons. And if your "pre boil gravity" was 1.010 you sparked WAY too much and the beer might turn out very tannic and bland.
There is a method called "no sparging" where you use your full volume at the start and just drain it off into your kettle. This is "suppose" to yield better flavor, which is really what we all should shoot for.
Next time cut the Sparge water down by at least 3 gallons. Oh and what yooper said about grain absorption being .125 gallons per pound, once the grain absorbs this amount, it will not be able to absorb anymore.
There is a method called "no sparging" where you use your full volume at the start and just drain it off into your kettle. This is "suppose" to yield better flavor, which is really what we all should shoot for.
Next time cut the Sparge water down by at least 3 gallons. Oh and what yooper said about grain absorption being .125 gallons per pound, once the grain absorbs this amount, it will not be able to absorb anymore.
That's still a huge boil off difference. You are talking about nearly, if I'm not mistaken, a difference of about 10 pounds of sugar. That's a butt load of boil off and sugar concentration. I'd be interested to see how it turns out.
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