Large grain bill

[dukes7779]

I am going to be doing a DFH 90 minute clone soon. The grain bill is 18.16 lb. In theory my strike volume should be 22.7qts (if 1.25qt/lb). Obviously there will be some grain absorption (is .12 gallons/lb correct?). But my kettle is 7.5 gallons (30 qts). So in theory my sparge volume could only be about 10 quarts! What to do? Make a thicker mash with 1qt/lb to have a larger sparge volume? Start to boil my 1st runoff, then add my sparge when I boil off enough volume?

Does sparge volume really need to be 1.5 times mash volume (as recommended by John Palmer). It calls for a 105 minute boil...will i have boiled off enough to get to the right FG?

The recipe I have states the pre-boil volume is 6.75 gallons......how did they come up with that number (ProMash Recipe Report)?????? Please help!!!

 

[Stevo2569]

What's the recipe?

 

[itsme6582]

I'd go with a simpler and less expensive recipe to do your first batch with. After a batch or 2, you should have a good idea of how you want to sparge, what your efficiency will be, and how much boiloff you'll have.

You basically need to work your recipe around your efficiency and then sparge until you have your target preboil volume. If you end up with a lower gravity than expected you can always adjust with dme. I think you're really gonna be pushing that pot to the limit with 6.5+ gallons. Be sure to use fermcap.

 

[dukes7779]

sorry, the recipe I have is as below. It calls for 1.25qt/lb. mash. Also, we are going to be doing a single infusion sparge at 152* instead of the rest and mashout. I understand your suggestion to do some more smaller (grain bill) batches first but my brew buddy is wholly committed to this one and we already purchased the ingredients. Also, doing more smaller batches will still leave me confused with this recipe due to the volume differences.

The ProMash report claims 6.75gallon pre-boil wort.......???

90-Minute IPA clone (Dogfish Head) from BYO
(5 gallons/19L, all-grain)
OG = 1.088 FG = 1.021
IBU = 90 SRM = 13 ABV - 8.7%

Ingredients
16.5 lbs. 2 Row malt
1.66 lbs. amber malt (35 *L)
16 AAU Amarillo hops (90-0 mins)
(3.0 oz. of 8% alpha acids)
8.0 AAu Simcoe hops (90-0 mins)
(1 oz. of 13% alpha acids)
8.0 AAU Warrior hops (90-0 mins)
(1 oz. of 15% alpha acids)
1 oz. Amarillo hops (dry hops)
0.5 oz. Simcoe hops (dry hops)
0.5 oz. Warrior hops (dry hops)
1 tsp. Iriish moss (15 mins)
Wyeast 1099 (Whitbread Ale) yeast
.75 cups corn sugar (for priming)

Step by Step
Mash in at 122 *F (50 *C), then raise the temp. to 149 *F (65 *C) until conversion is complete. Mash out to 170 *F (77 *C). Boil the wort for 105 minutes. Starting with 90 minutes left in the boil, begin slowly and evenly adding hops to the kettle. (This works out to a little over .25 oz. of hops every 7.5 minutes.) Start fermentation at 71 *F (22 *C) and let raise to 74 *F (23 *C). Dry hop in secondary at 71 *F for 3-5 days, then cool to 32 *F (0 *C).

 

[dukes7779]

Anyone ever boil off then add sparge and continue boil!

 

[BrewThruYou]

You could thicken the mash a little bit (less mash water), boil longer to get the volume down (before hop additions), or just accept the low efficiency that comes with low sparge volumes.

 

[Gilbey]

Whoops, reread the OP, my bad .

I gotta hand it to you! You're starting big!!!

Alan

 

[AKnewbrews]

I suppose in theory, if you did not have enough kettle space for a full mash and sparge volume, you could sparge first runnings and boil down, and sparge some more and add the second runnings to the kettle and boil down, and so on until you have extracted the sugars from the mash to get your OG at final volume, given your sparge efficiency was good. Mashing out at a consistent 170 degrees might be kind of tedious, although not completely necessary, for a first batch anyways.

It would be a juggling game between your HLT and BK to keep everything going and hot. If you sparge slower, then the boil off time won't seem like it is taking so long.

 

[terrapinj]

i did a barleywine a few weeks back and had to add some of the sparge during the boil due to lack of space in the kettle - i did a 2 hour boil and tried not to add much if any once I began hop additions

 

[Yooper]

It'll be ok. Just plan on about 60-65% efficiency and sparge to get your boil volume. Increase the grain bill, or have some DME on hand, if you're concerned that you will miss your OG.

What I'd do (and have done) for that grain bill and a 30 quart pot is this:

Mash it with 22.7 (call it 23) quarts. Plan on "losing" 2.25 gallons to absorption. So, 5.75 gallons (23 quarts) - 2.25 gallons = 3.5 gallons of first runnings. Then, sparge with 3 gallons to get 6.5 gallons of wort.

You can either use some Fermcap (like magic to prevent boil overs!) or start with 6 gallons and watch it like a hawk until after the hot break and then add the .5 gallons of wort.

That will work ok, but will compromise efficiency somewhat. You can also sparge more, and boil those runnings in a separate pot, adding it in at the end if you boil off more than you planned.

Your beer will be great, I promise!

 

[dukes7779]

Thank you all so much!

 

[mrk305]

I almost always do a two pot boil. If you are planning on doing a 90 minute boil, you probably won't end up with 5 gallons using a standard turkey fryer pot.