Concentrated all grain wort boil?

[tpitman]

I've done some all grain full volume batches, but kind of like the convenience of stovetop brew sessions using extract, mainly for the convenience of a rapid cool-down to low 70's to pitch yeast. I have a wort chiller, but just getting it down to 80 takes quite some time (I'm in Florida).
Without the added expense of an ice bath, which I've also tried, basically what I'm looking for is taking the first runnings from a mash and boiling that in a 5 gallon pot, much as I would with extract and specialty grains, then after 15-20 minutes with the wort chiller, top up with a gallon or so of filtered ice water and pitching the yeast. Brewsmith gives me the calculations for the necessary grain bill, but I've never seen any discussion about doing this, or any downsides to it, so I'm soliciting opinions.

 

[user 141939]

I've wondered about this too . Other than lower hop utilization and some more caramelization i wouldn't see the problem. But i have no idea if there is other reasons.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[chriscraig]

You're talking about no-sparge brewing. Totally valid, but more expensive. Hops utilization would be a bit lower, but you can compensate for that.

I say go for it. Worst that can happen is you end up with beer

 

[tpitman]

Well, Brewsmith figured out a previously successful recipe using extract, and converting it to all grain, as basically a no-sparge brew-in-a-bag. Since extract brewing is essentially the same with significantly high gravity in the boil, I can't see what the difference would be using a no-sparge all grain version, but I thought maybe someone might have experience that would indicate unforeseen problems. Thanks for the responses.

 

[masskrug]

Interesting idea. Subscribed.

Are you fermenting in a freezer? I'm in Florida as well. I get down to about 90' with my immersion chiller and then throw it in the freezer for a few hours, or pitch the next day.

 

[tpitman]

Interesting idea. Subscribed.

Are you fermenting in a freezer? I'm in Florida as well. I get down to about 90' with my immersion chiller and then throw it in the freezer for a few hours, or pitch the next day.

Nope. We keep the house about 72 degrees year-round. I have a seamless metal pan I put the bucket in, add water and an old t-shirt tightly secured to the bucket for a swamp cooler. Drops the temp down to about 66-67 degrees.
I've thought about just pitching the yeast the day after, but have been a bit nervous about it with all of the warnings about wort chilling and pitching as quickly as possible to avoid contamination. I can't imagine how likely an infection is if the wort is siphoned into the bucket and then sealed for a day while the temp drops to pitching temp.

 

[chriscraig]

24 hours without pitching is quite a risk. Remember that there is a lag time of ~24 hours even after you pitch. The best defence wort has against contamination is inoculation

Seriously, chill and pitch as quickly as possible.

 

[Zepth]

This has been my usual setup. I can only get about 3.5 gals or so on my stovetop or it refuses to boil. I have been getting around 1.080 or 1.090 from 5kg average grist. Diluting down to the 1.060 or 1.045 range is entirely possible. Efficiency seems to hover around 55-60%.

Good part is the second runnings plugged into a calculator comes out usually 25%, I like to think of this as getting a total efficiency of 80%. My other idea is to end up doing 2 small boils for one batch and carboy.

 

[aslander]

If your wort chiller doesn't work well with tap water, get a cheap pond pump. I pump ice water through mine and it works well. Put pond pump in sink with ice and cool packs, run faucet on top of ice, pump pushes it through. I save the water for the first 5 gallons in a bucket because it is scalding hot and good to clean up with.