Keep it or discard it...extra wort after sparge?

[MrJames]

I did a 10g recipe of an Oktoberfest, because the SWMBO loved my last batch. I mashed 1.5qts/lb if grain (26 lbs of grain)....I sparged 1.33qts/lb, even though I got conflicting directions on this...I ended up with 13g of wort to boil. So pre-boil my OG was 1.050, a decent target I guess.... The question is, I have an additional 3g of wort left over. What do I do?

One suggestion was to boil it for an extra hour or two into my batch...then start my one hour count down. Well, I set it aside and now have 3 gallons of wort, not yet boiled. Keep it and make something with hops laying around or pitch it?

If the picture attaches ok, the unused wort is in the pot in front of the carboys.

 

[Creepersale]

I normally plan on extra after I sparge only about a gallon or 1 1/2. And boil it about 5-10 min and store in sterilized quart jars. And use a quart at a time for a yeast starter for my next brew in line.. But I do reboil and cool before pitching yeast .

 

[brewkinger]

You have 13 gal preboil so boil it all and then figure out how much you have left after boiling.
I assume that you are making a 10 gal batch?

Forget this, I just saw the picture. Assuming there is 5 gal in each carboy, you must have started with more than 13 gal before the boil?

 

[BGBC]

I normally plan on extra after I sparge only about a gallon or 1 1/2. And boil it about 5-10 min and store in sterilized quart jars. And use a quart at a time for a yeast starter for my next brew in line.. But I do reboil and cool before pitching yeast .

This. Or you can freeze the extra wort if canning isn't possible.

It looks like you've already done your boil and pitched yeast into the other wort? If so, I wouldn't add the extra 3 gal to that since it will just mess with your numbers.

If you have the fermenter space, you could treat the extra 3 gal as a separate small batch. Boil as is (new hops, etc), or add some DME/LME if you need to bump up the OG (search partigyle for other ideas).

 

[djfriesen]

Sounds like a perfect place to store sour dregs to me!

 

[tootal]

How big is your kettle? In a 90 minute boil you will lose 3 gallons of water which will increase you OG. If you boiled 10 gallons you don't have ten gallons anymore. I would boil it for the same amount of time as you boiled the rest of it and add it to it, after airation of course.

 

[brewkinger]

How big is your kettle? In a 90 minute boil you will lose 3 gallons of water which will increase you OG. If you boiled 10 gallons you don't have ten gallons anymore. I would boil it for the same amount of time as you boiled the rest of it and add it to it, after airation of course.

This is where I am confused.
The OP clearly states that there was 13 gallons pre boil.
Did you only boil 10 gallons of that 13?

Like mentioned above, if you had 13 and only boiled 10, then you have less than 10 gallons in those carboys.

 

[duboman]

This is where I am confused.
The OP clearly states that there was 13 gallons pre boil.
Did you only boil 10 gallons of that 13?

Like mentioned above, if you had 13 and only boiled 10, then you have less than 10 gallons in those carboys.

I too read this the same way and am just as curious.....

 

[poptotwoboys]

Based on your post you mashed and sparged with roughly 18 gallons of water. I'm guessing you filled your boil kettle and this is what was left in the mash tun? Boil it, store it in a sanitized container and use it to prime your batch for bottle conditioning. Make it an authentic Oktober Fest Bier.

 

[Melana]

Use it for bread?

 

[MrJames]

This is where I am confused.
The OP clearly states that there was 13 gallons pre boil.
Did you only boil 10 gallons of that 13?

Like mentioned above, if you had 13 and only boiled 10, then you have less than 10 gallons in those carboys.

I drew 13g from the mash tun (mash and sparge - i'm fairly new to sparging so please bear with me) and stopped right at about 13g or so. There was still some left in mash tun. So I boiled the 13g through the normal process...and at the same time I drained the remaining amount from the mash tun into a seperate container.

I am tempted to do a 3g batch of something....but will also consider canning it. Is that canning it just like I would can fruit or veggies?

I'm glad nobody said to dump it.

 

[poptotwoboys]

+1, yea boil, hop it and add some yeast. Has anyone ever fermented an un-hopped wort? I wonder what that would taste like........

 

[brewkinger]

I drew 13g from the mash tun (mash and sparge - i'm fairly new to sparging so please bear with me) and stopped right at about 13g or so. There was still some left in mash tun. So I boiled the 13g through the normal process...and at the same time I drained the remaining amount from the mash tun into a seperate container.



I am tempted to do a 3g batch of something....but will also consider canning it. Is that canning it just like I would can fruit or veggies?



I'm glad nobody said to dump it.

OK, now I understand.
So you basically mashed and sparged and ended up with 16 gallons total.

First of all, you sparged too much.
What is the gravity of the extra 3 gallons? I would imagine it being fairly low and probably need to add some more fermentables if you plan on making a beer out of it.

As far as your process goes, I think that the 13 gallon mark is the correct amount for a 10 gallon batch.
My suggestion is to mash with a specific grist ratio like you did. Collect your first runnings and record the volume.
Subtract that from your 13 gal preboil and then sparge with enough water to get to the 13 gal total.

Easy peezy!

 

[MrJames]

+1, yea boil, hop it and add some yeast. Has anyone ever fermented an un-hopped wort? I wonder what that would taste like........

Bud Light

 

[poptotwoboys]

Bud Light

Too funny! Yer right. :smack:

 

[doby]

I am tempted to do a 3g batch of something....but will also consider canning it. Is that canning it just like I would can fruit or veggies?

Its non acidic so you need to use a pressure canner, just putting it in sanatised jars for any extended period is a nonno

 

[patthebrewer]

How about fermenting it, and saving for cooking with.....awful lot of good recipes for cooking with beer.

 

[ChrisMT]

I drew 13g from the mash tun (mash and sparge - i'm fairly new to sparging so please bear with me) and stopped right at about 13g or so. There was still some left in mash tun.

I always use this.

(Desired preboil volume)-(First Runnings volume)= (Sparge Volume)

That being said dont toss it, just boil it, hop it, and make a surprise beer.

 

[Gear101]

All depends on the gravity, could hold it back for starters?

 

[Kevin42]

I like to take the excess( if there is any) after mashing, drain it into a separate pot. reduce it to almost syrup, then turn it into a BBQ sauce or something similar. Almost every sauce recipe you see calls for brown sugar or somesuch, so this replaces it well. Made a raspberry mango habanero sauce from last years barleywine- after making a small beer, and it was better than any beer i had brewed that year. sometimes i will fill growlers with the dregs from the mash tun, fridge them until i have time to do something with them. waste is bad mmmkay.

 

[wilserbrewer]

The leftover runnings are second runnings and likely fairly low gravity...I would check the gravity then make a decision.

If you want to brew a light beer, or have starter wort on hand, great.

It is likely that there isn't as much to save as it appears due to low gravity.

 

[Dustinj]

Experiment with it. Pitch a different yeast and see what types of different flavors you get. I will do that with my next batch. 10 gallons two different yeast for each 5g fermenter.