DFH 90 Clone Before Brew Questions

[Luzer]

I want to do a DFH 90 min clone and I have a few questions before I start. My current setup is two 7gal (28 qt) coolers with a SS braid and a 7.5 gal pot.
Steps:

• 1. I want to try batch sparging so my plan is to heat 5.74 gal [found a calc here] and add the water to the mash tun add half the water then the grains then the rest of the water.
• 2. After the water is added check the temp to make sure I’m on target and let it sit for 60 minutes. If the temperature is off I’ll drain some of the water and heating it up in a pot.
• 3. When the 60 minutes are up I’m going to drain about 1/3 of wart and heat it up till steam rises and add it back to the wort till it’s at 175 F and letting it sit for 10 minutes.
• 4. Once the 10 minutes is up I’ll remove 1-2 qt of wort till its clear.
• 5. When the wort is clear I’ll add 6.07 gal to my other cooler and have it drain in at the same speed as the wort drains out leaving the water at ~1/3 in above the grain bed.
• 6. After all the wort is gone from the mash tun I'll boil the wort for 90 min and add the hops every 10 minutes.

Some questions:

• 1. Will I have enough room in my cooler for the grain and water?
• 2. Can I divide everything by 5 to make a 1gal sample batch? I want to try adding the hops every 3 minutes, 5 minutes, and 10 minutes to see if there is a difference.
• 3. When do I take my SG? Right before the boil or after? If its after the boil and if I didn’t hit my target can I add some DME?
• 4. Will 300 billion cells fit in 2 one pint mason jars?
• 5. If I calculated correctly I think I’ll end up with 9.18 gal of water and my pot is 7.35 gal. Can I boil the overflow wort in a different pot till the main pot has enough room?
• 6. The directions say to “Mash at 149-150” so does that mean I dont do step 3 (heat the wort to 168F)?

 

[Luzer]

edit: posting under the 90 min thread to see if my numbers are right.

 

[Luzer]

I spent some time researching and found some answers.

1. I found a site called rackers.org that luckily had the calculation for me. Under “Can I mash it” I put in 17.25 lb and it says that it will take up 6.77 gallons which means that my 7 gallon cooler would work. This brings up another question about mash thickness. I see on the forms that if I make a thinker mash when using batch sparging I have a higher better chance for higher efficiency.
   
2. I’m going to buy some grain and specialty malt to give it a try. If all else fails I still have beer.
   
3. From what I can tell I take my SG reading right at the end of the boil if its low I’ll add some DME so I can get closer to my target.
   
4. Using Mr. Malty it looks like I can start with one smack pack and make 2.3 liters of 1.040 OG wort for the starter using an aquarium pump to get the 300 billion cells.
   
5. I’ll boil the overflow on my stove till there’s room in the min pot.

 

[Luzer]

Going to brew this one over the weekend.

Wish me luck!