New to All-Grain

[mgortel]

I have been doing my research and self-educating (with the help of this site of course) for my 1st all grain batch which I plan to do Memorial Day Weekend.

One thing that "bothers" me is the prospect of doing my 1-hour boil with my hop additions, etc...to find out that the predicted amount of boil off did not occur so that I end up with to low of a S.G.

For example....lets suppose I start with 6.5 gallons and plan on being at 5 gallons at end of boil....and I end up being at 5.5 gallons after 60 minutes. I cannot continue to boil to get rid of extra water to get my S.G. down to where it needs to be......because my bitterness would go up since my hops already have been in there the planned time.

How do you handle this? Should I do a pre-boil of just water to see what my evaporation rate is as a test for my setup? THis of course would require my boil on future batches to be at the same heat addition (i.e. not a low boil one time and a fast boil the next....)

Can you guys and gals enlighten me here?

Thanks!
Mike

 

[ThePearsonFam]

I did exactly as you suggested and performed a trial run. I just try to make the boil about the same each time now. There are a ton of variables though (wind, temp, recipe, kettle, heat source, etc). I usually get pretty close and don't worry about it anymore.

 

[bullinachinashop]

Keep some DME on hand.
Mark your pot so you know how much you'll have at the end.
Adjust if you want or just roll with what you get.
It'll take many brew sessions to dial in your equipment.
Take notes.
Take notes.
Oh yea, did I say to take notes?

Bull

 

[malkore]

Trial run, or take notes and adjust for next time.

 

[kapbrew13]

Know your equipment, take notes, and make it repeatable.

 

[bannonb]

You hit on the great mystery...volume vs hop utilization. Good eye. I didn't think about that until way after my first allgrain brews.

I use a mash paddle that I made which has a stirring end and has markings up the handle so I know my volume at any point.

I am in an arid climate, but use Beersmith's suggestion of 13% per hour and it works fine for me.

I definitely suggest using brewing software to build your recipes, perform your mashes with good volumes, characterize your equipment (boiloff, temperatures, gravities, dead spaces which lose beer). Once you get your brew rig understood, you'll get repeatability.

Don't burn time doing a test boil. Use that time to verify your recipe and know how you'll transfer and chill hot water and wort during your brew day. Then how you'll clean and sanitize everything. Those will be necessary too.

Above all, enjoy figuring it all out