First timer

[chriselgui]

I'm brewing for the first time by myself next weeken. The recipe I have calls for me to boil 6 gallons for 90 minutes, and I whould have 5 gallons in then end....seems a little long to me, any comments?

I'm doing a spring wheat:

4lbs American 2-row
5lbs Wheat Malt
1lb American Munich
8 oz. American Crystal 20L
8 oz. Flaked wheat

sound alright to everyone...comments and help are very very welcome, i dont want to screw it up. Thanks all.

 

[gcdowd]

Boil off depends on a lot of factors but yeah the pre boil volume looks low. I boil off 2 gallons in 60 minutes. I would boil plain water for 30 minutes or so and mark the boil off then multiply by 3 to get a rough estimate on pre boil volume.

 

[chriselgui]

Boil off depends on a lot of factors but yeah the pre boil volume looks low. I boil off 2 gallons in 60 minutes. I would boil plain water for 30 minutes or so and mark the boil off then multiply by 3 to get a rough estimate on pre boil volume.

assuming its a perfect world, if you boil off 2 gallons in 60 min, i should boil off 3 gallons in 90 min. so i should start my pre-boil with round about 8 gallons..

How much water is lost, round about durring your striking and sparging? I have an app on my phone that says that i should strike 4.1 gallons and sparge 4.3 gallons which equels 8.4 gallons...will i loose 2.4ish gallons durring this process?

 

[gcdowd]

Well like I said many factors affect boil off. The size and shape of your kettle, humidity, vigor of boil, etc. I would not assume 8 gallons, I would test it out first. Every kettle is different.

 

[chriselgui]

alright, i'll test it this weekend.

 

[TTB-J]

I boil off a little over a gallon every hour. Definitely test it, it varies widely with conditions. There's really no need to boil a wheat beer for 90 minutes. Let us know the hop schedule and we can probably help you cut that in half and end up with the same IBUs.

 

[gcdowd]

You'll also lose water to grain absorption. I lose about 0.13 gallons per pound of grain so you need to account for that. I think a typical loss factor is about 0.15 gallons per pound.

 

[TopherM]

You could always just start with the 6 gallons, then top off with water to hit your expect OG after cooldown, the same you would extract. The last thing you want is to use TOO much water, so I'd warn against the suggestion to start with 8 gallons. I'd much rather be on the low side than the high side, it's much easier to correct.

Boil off has alot to do with the diameter of your pot, i.e., the surface area of your boiled water. My pot has a diameter of 13.5 inches, and I boil off 1.2 gallons per hour. My starting water volume for a 5 gallon batch is typically around 6.9-7.2 gallons. The larger the diameter of the pot, the more boil off, and vice-versa, so that's a good starting point.

 

[chriselgui]

I boil off a little over a gallon every hour. Definitely test it, it varies widely with conditions. There's really no need to boil a wheat beer for 90 minutes. Let us know the hop schedule and we can probably help you cut that in half and end up with the same IBUs.

Hops are as follows:

1oz hallertauer @ 60 min left
1oz cascade @ 30 min left
1oz hallertouer @ 15 min left

 

[chriselgui]

You'll also lose water to grain absorption. I lose about 0.13 gallons per pound of grain so you need to account for that. I think a typical loss factor is about 0.15 gallons per pound.

if i go by .15/per lb then that gives me 1.65 gallons of water lost, so I should have 6.75ish gallons of wort to boil over 90 min.....

 

[chriselgui]

You could always just start with the 6 gallons, then top off with water to hit your expect OG after cooldown, the same you would extract. The last thing you want is to use TOO much water, so I'd warn against the suggestion to start with 8 gallons. I'd much rather be on the low side than the high side, it's much easier to correct.

Boil off has alot to do with the diameter of your pot, i.e., the surface area of your boiled water. My pot has a diameter of 13.5 inches, and I boil off 1.2 gallons per hour. My starting water volume for a 5 gallon batch is typically around 6.9-7.2 gallons. The larger the diameter of the pot, the more boil off, and vice-versa, so that's a good starting point.

I have just your standard 10 gallon stainless steel pot....so if say 1.5 gallons per hour lost (on the safe side). so what 2.25 gallons lost in 90 min....boiling a total of 6.75 gallons would put me at 4.5 gallons in the end.....all rough math, guesstamating

 

[gcdowd]

if i go by .15/per lb then that gives me 1.65 gallons of water lost, so I should have 6.75ish gallons of wort to boil over 90 min.....

So to get 6.75 gallons pre boil, you need 8.4 gallons of strike/sparge water. Your mash thickness will determine how much of each you use. Generally, thickness can be anywhere from 1 qt/pound to 2 qt/pound and often depends on how much grain you are using. I've been doing about 1.5 qt/pound mashes.

 

[TTB-J]

Hops are as follows:

1oz hallertauer @ 60 min left
1oz cascade @ 30 min left
1oz hallertouer @ 15 min left

You'll end up with about the same IBUs with this:

1 oz Cascade @ 45 mins
1 oz Hallertauer @ 30 mins
1 oz Hallertauer @ 15 mins

Your original hop bill was measuring at about 39 IBUs and that one is about 38 IBUs. And you'll save yourself 45 minutes worth of time and propane.

 

[midfielder5]

Hops are as follows:
1oz hallertauer @ 60 min left
1oz cascade @ 30 min left
1oz hallertouer @ 15 min left

I would just boil for 60 min, not 90. and leave hop sched as is.
edit: ttjb sched is ok too except i dont like wheats with a lot of cascade bittnerness. ymmv

 

[chriselgui]

thanks for the help, i think im gonna boil for 60 min with a modified hops schedule