Full 4 gallon mash possible + water =5g?

[ToddO]

Basically, I built a mash tun in a big cooler a while back planning to do all grain. It has just been sitting there since - kind of ran out of time and $$ to do the chiller & turkey fryer. Been mashing 6 lbs. BIAB and adding extract for quite a while.

Was wondering - Could I mash the full volume of a recipe into the 4 gallon total that I can boil on my stove and just add water at the end to get to the 5 gallon top off in the fermentor?

For example and to keep it basic - 12lbs 2-row for a 4gallon OG of 1.81. Top off water once it is boiled etc. to get a 5 gallon at 1.065?

Besides possible hop utiliziation issues is there anything that I am missing here?

 

[MalFet]

The biggest factor to consider is that it will kill your efficiency.

Beyond that, and in addition to the hop utilization, you might get some subtle darkening due to the smaller volume, but that's will only be a problem if you're going for something extremely light in color.

 

[frazier]

If your tun is big enough - just get a second boil kettle, boil them both at the same time, that's what I do. I get 6.5 to 7 gallons of runnings, boil in two pots, split the hop additions, life is good.

Good that I have a nice double sink to chill the pots in. Sometimes ya gotta do what ya gotta do.

 

[ToddO]

Not grasping why it would kill efficiency - low sparge volume? What would be the difference if I was just making a 4 gallon batch and not topping up?

Double boil. Hmm. I could probably pull that off although not equally in two pots. Figuring out hopping would be a challenge..

 

[MalFet]

Not grasping why it would kill efficiency - low sparge volume? What would be the difference if I was just making a 4 gallon batch and not topping up?

Indeed. You'd be cutting back your mash and sparge by 50% or so. You'd get similar efficiency if you didn't top up. That doesn't affect the calculations.

 

[TrubDog]

Why not slim down your grainbill so you end up with a smaller batch size that works with your equipment? You will get better efficiency and it would cost less to boot!

 

[Hitokiri]

Agree with TrubDog. I do 3-4 gallon batches. Sure you get a bit less beer, but you get to brew more often.

 

[ToddO]

Gotcha. Thanks. Guess the tun will stay in the garage until I can get some more stuff together.. Just sick of using extract.

I go through 5 gallons to quick to even think of doing 3. I only have a chance to brew every couple of weeks..

Cheers~

 

[MalFet]

Gotcha. Thanks. Guess the tun will stay in the garage until I can get some more stuff together.. Just sick of using extract.

I go through 5 gallons to quick to even think of doing 3. I only have a chance to brew every couple of weeks..

Cheers~

There's really no harm in doing it as you stand, though. You'll need an extra pound or two of grain, but grain's cheap, eh?

 

[milleniumsmoker]

I do that all the time. I can only get about 5 gallons to boil on my stove. I usually end up topping off with 1.25 to 1.5 gallons of water to get to 5.25 total gallons in my carboy. I still end up about 70% efficiency. I do wonder how good my efficiency would be if I could boil it all and sparged more. It does use additional hops. I use beersmith to calculate it all. My beers come out great!