Overbrewing

[Axegod]

Hello,

I recently swithced to AG and was used to doing 12 gallon batches with extract.
I am able to do 10 G no prob (at least the first one). I have a keg that can safely
boil about 12-13 G to reduce to about 10G for pitching. My thought was to add more grains and get a higher OG and with the help of promash, dilute with another 2 G to end up with about 12G of wort. So maybe have something 10 G in the mid 1.050's range and dilute to high 1.040's. My style of beer would be a pilsner so something in the high 1.040's would be suitable and I don't mind giving up a bit of body.

So the question is...has anyone else done this? Any foreseable problems?

Cheers.

 

[EugeneStyles]

If I understand correctly, you're just talking about a partial boil, right? You boil the wort at a slightly higher OG, then add water to dilute it? I've been doing that for the last couple batches, and I don't there's any problem with it. Several sources suggest this, so that you don't necesarily need a 7G kettle for a 5G batch of beer, 12G kettle for 10G batch, etc...

The minor problems that I've run into so far are:

a) I think that it's preferable to boil the extra water first, otherwise you're adding "dirty" water to your sanitized carboy. Since we didn't want to bother hooking up the chiller coil for 1G of water, we just covered the pot and stuck it in an icebath for a few minutes before dumping it into the carboy.

b) You hop utilization goes down a bit with a partial boil. Not enough to really worry about in my opinion, but it's something to take into account. If you're doing exact calculations, make sure to use the increased OG of the partial boil, not the OG with the water added.

 

[Axegod]

a) I think that it's preferable to boil the extra water first, otherwise you're adding "dirty" water to your sanitized carboy. Since we didn't want to bother hooking up the chiller coil for 1G of water, we just covered the pot and stuck it in an icebath for a few minutes before dumping it into the carboy.

b) You hop utilization goes down a bit with a partial boil. Not enough to really worry about in my opinion, but it's something to take into account. If you're doing exact calculations, make sure to use the increased OG of the partial boil, not the OG with the water added.

Good points for sure.

I played around with Promash a bit more and think if I start with a OG of about 1.060 and dilute it to 1.050 I should be good (10G adding 2G of water).

The hops will have to be trial and error...maybe start in the high 40's for HBU before dilution...better too much than too little...

Cheers.

 

[seansbrew]

I am going to start doing more concentrated boils with my ag brews. As long as you use purified water, you shouldn't have a problem. Anything in a sealed container should be close to sterile. Adding more hops and balancing them will be a learning experience.

I usually yeald 10 gallons with my system, I want to step it up to 15. A very good freind of mine works at one of the local breweries here in AZ (award winning at that). I was told that they are doing concentrated boils now. I notice no difference in the beer and neither do they. AS a matter of fact most of the major breweries brew beer this way. They are able to brew with more efficiency.

 

[Teedocious]

AS a matter of fact most of the major breweries brew beer this way. They are able to brew with more efficiency.

If you mean grain efficiency - they're not being more efficient. Higher OG's (which you need for a reduced boil) always reduce efficiency a bit. Look at making big beers yourself - if ou are shooting for 100 OG - a system that would get 75% eff. for a 1.060 beer will be getting 55% or so eff. for the big beer. (unless you want to collect a ridiculous amount of wort & boil it down all day - which is the opposite of what you guys are talking about doing). You will also need more hops b/c the gravity in the kettle will be higher.

So ingredient wise, it isn't more efficient. But it does take less energy to bring a condensed boil to a boil. And if you're talking about commercial scale brewing, that might be enough to make up for the extra ingredient costs.

 

[seansbrew]

If you mean grain efficiency - they're not being more efficient. Higher OG's (which you need for a reduced boil) always reduce efficiency a bit. Look at making big beers yourself - if ou are shooting for 100 OG - a system that would get 75% eff. for a 1.060 beer will be getting 55% or so eff. for the big beer. (unless you want to collect a ridiculous amount of wort & boil it down all day - which is the opposite of what you guys are talking about doing). You will also need more hops b/c the gravity in the kettle will be higher.

So ingredient wise, it isn't more efficient. But it does take less energy to bring a condensed boil to a boil. And if you're talking about commercial scale brewing, that might be enough to make up for the extra ingredient costs.

TIme TIme Time. That is were they are saving money. They are able go brew more product in a shorter amount of time.