Set up questions for all grain

[oogaboogachiefwalkingdeer]

Will a 7 1/2 gallon pot be big enough for the boil session? I have a four gallon pot to boil water for the mash and sparge. I made a mashtun with a manifold. I loose one gallon per hr brewing extract kits. I am having trouble figuring out how much water to use and if you boil 60 or 90 minutes and why the difference in boil times. I am guessing if you have 6 gallon it is 60 and if you have 6 1/2 gallon of wort you boil for 90??

 

[GrogNerd]

Bigger beers sometimes require a longer boil to get the higher gravity

30qt pot is pushing the limits for a 5 gallon batch. Watch carefully for a boil over

 

[ol-hazza]

Boil time differs for different beers, most use a 60 but some (pilsner off the top of my head) use a 90 min boil to reduce DMS. It also effects hop bitterness and caramalisation of sugars. I say just stick with what the recipe states

Your pot will be big enough, but as mentioned look out for boil overs. I do big boils in a small pot, and have some cold water on stand by to prevent boil overs and also turn off my burners momentarily when adding hops.

As far as the water amount goes you need to add together the final volume wort (5Gal) + boil off (1Gal for 60 min) + grain absorption (0.1gal/lb grain, (1gal for 10lb recipe) + dead space (the amount of wort you cant get out of your lauter tun, complete guess at 1/2 gal) = 7.5 gal strike water.

 

[helibrewer]

If you go with that small of a kettle I would definitely use FermCap for foam control.

 

[oogaboogachiefwalkingdeer]

Thanks for the help. I re measured my brew pot and it is 8 gallons. With 6 1/2 gallons I have 3 inchs of head space. I am going to try the Bass and Co posted in the recipe section or a kit from hbs called 10th IPA. Got all the grain in the mail today. So if I loose a gallon an hr won't this be right for pre boil volume amount? Sorry about all the questions that have probably been asked here hundreds of times.

 

[duboman]

Many people like to aim for 5.5 gallons into primary to wind up with a full 5 gallons in finished beer. If you lose 1 gallon per hour then yes, you would need 6-6.5 gallons pre-boil volume. BUT: You also will have trub loss in the kettle as well as hop absorption depending on the amount of hops in the recipe so you may actually need a bit more preboil wort. In my set up I need 9 gallons of wort pre boil to get 6.25 gallons into primary for a full 6 gallon batch of beer as an example.

Either way I would suggest you get some foam control as mentioned, even 3" of headspace can foam over when you add the hops or bring it to a boil in an 8 gallon kettle.

 

[oogaboogachiefwalkingdeer]

Okay no foam control on hand so I will have to watch like a hawk till I loose some volume. Can I top up with a half gallon of boiled water to net a 5.5 to ferment or maybe sneak a bit of wort into the boil as I loose volume?

 

[duboman]

You can use a spray bottle of water to spray the foam down

As for top off, yes you can but keep in mind you might dilute the beer a bit depending on what volume you add. Brewing all grain has a lot more variables in the process than extract. It will usually take several batches of beer to properly dial in your set up and process to start being consistent.

If you have not read " How to Brew" by John Palmer I highly suggest you do, there is a free version on line but the new book is much more current, pick yourself up a copy, it will be a constant reference as you move forward.

 

[oogaboogachiefwalkingdeer]

Thanks. This beer brewing seems a lot harder than wine. I have no trouble in that dept.

 

[ol-hazza]

Bass pale ale, nice choice! That was my first ever All Grain recipe as well. I used a slightly different one from a BYO article though. Have two bottles of it left and I'm going to drink one when I get home in your honour.

I just want to state the obvious of the recipe you are using, and that is that its for a 11 gal recipe. I'm sure you spotted it. Just halve the ingredients.

Dont get too worried about hitting exact targets on your first go, as mentioned previously there are going to be discrepancies due to your system, and these will take a couple of batches to figure out.
On my first time around there was so much to take on I got a bit overwhelmed, but ended up with beer, and it only takes a couple of batches before it becomes habit.

The one thing I wish I could change would about my earlier brews is to take better notes of volumes, temps and gravities.

 

[ghohn]

You'll be fine with a 7.5G pot. Even in the case of a 90 minute boil, you'd be on par to lose roughly 1.5G to evaporation. If you are really worried, use some fermcap in the boil. Even on my insane rocket stove, I've never had a boil over with fermcap (though it was making some crazy grumbling noises).

Your selection of pot size, 7.5G in this case, is perfect should you want to move up to a double batch all-grain setup. You won't need to 'rebuy' it down the road.

 

[zdegner]

That pot size will work, but look out for boil overs or your cleanup work will double! You'll probably be pretty close to the lip (0.5 gallons of airspace doesn't look like much once the pot is filled with 6 gallons of wort) but I've done it many times without incident.

I'd suggest measuring or calculating the pot volume / inch, then marking your desired starting and ending volumes on some stick-like object (measuring from the top edge of the pot). Check about halfway through the boil and adjust the heat to hit your target volume. After a few boils you'll be able to eyeball it.

 

[ol-hazza]

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1416469210.452664.jpg
My Bass clone from BYO, hope yours works as well

 

[RM-MN]

Since you are planning to use that pot for all grain you have some options. I use mine and do a 5 gallon batch and have to watch closely for boilovers but there isn't anything saying that you have to do 5 gallons. If you want to make a high gravity beer, just make your batch size a little smaller to compensate for the smaller pot.

 

[metanoia]

Will a 7 1/2 gallon pot be big enough for the boil session? I have a four gallon pot to boil water for the mash and sparge. I made a mashtun with a manifold. I loose one gallon per hr brewing extract kits. I am having trouble figuring out how much water to use and if you boil 60 or 90 minutes and why the difference in boil times. I am guessing if you have 6 gallon it is 60 and if you have 6 1/2 gallon of wort you boil for 90??

I use a 7.5 gallon pot myself (old turkey fryer) and I aim for 6.75 gallons in the pot at beginning of my boil, which I always do 90 minutes. With a low-to-medium boil throughout, I typically end up with just about 5.5 gallons in the fermenter, which is my goal. And I use a 4 gallon pot for heating strike and sparge water, it works out well except that on most brews I have to borrow another 2 gallon pot from our kitchen if my strike or sparge water is more than 3.75 gallons (usually is).

Bigger beers sometimes require a longer boil to get the higher gravity

While OG is the most important thing to hit (over your desired volume in the fermenter), there's no need to boil longer just to get a higher OG- simply use more grains based on your efficency.

As far as the water amount goes you need to add together the final volume wort (5Gal) + boil off (1Gal for 60 min) + grain absorption (0.1gal/lb grain, (1gal for 10lb recipe) + dead space (the amount of wort you cant get out of your lauter tun, complete guess at 1/2 gal) = 7.5 gal strike water.

Actually, strike water is only what you use for your dough-in part of the mash, so for OP's reference, strike water will be your total pounds of grain times 1.25-1.50 quarts of water. The sparge water will be your desired volume in the brew kettle minus what you drain from your mash tun as first runnings, since the grain has already absorbed the max amount of water.

 

[kh54s10]

IMO. 7.5 - 8 gallon pots are bare minimum for doing 5 gallon full boils. I did it with a turkey fryer pot. I had to start the boil at just barely boiling. It took 15 -20 minutes before I could turn up the heat and stop watching.

If you can swing it go for a 10 gallon boil kettle.

90 minute boils are usually when using pilsner malts - to boil off dms.

 

[ol-hazza]

I use a 7.5 gallon pot myself (old turkey fryer) and I aim for 6.75 gallons in the pot at beginning of my boil, which I always do 90 minutes. With a low-to-medium boil throughout, I typically end up with just about 5.5 gallons in the fermenter, which is my goal. And I use a 4 gallon pot for heating strike and sparge water, it works out well except that on most brews I have to borrow another 2 gallon pot from our kitchen if my strike or sparge water is more than 3.75 gallons (usually is).





While OG is the most important thing to hit (over your desired volume in the fermenter), there's no need to boil longer just to get a higher OG- simply use more grains based on your efficency.





Actually, strike water is only what you use for your dough-in part of the mash, so for OP's reference, strike water will be your total pounds of grain times 1.25-1.50 quarts of water. The sparge water will be your desired volume in the brew kettle minus what you drain from your mash tun as first runnings, since the grain has already absorbed the max amount of water.

Well spotted