Too much wort...

[WaltG]

Ok, so doing a 1-gallon BIAB. Calculator told me to use 3 gallons water to start. Ending up having about 1/2-3/4 gallon too much. Will having that much more affect the batch, like will it be weaker?

I don't have anything to put the rest in or i would.

 

[plankbr]

Ok, so doing a 1-gallon BIAB. Calculator told me to use 3 gallons water to start. Ending up having about 1/2-3/4 gallon too much. Will having that much more affect the batch, like will it be weaker?

I don't have anything to put the rest in or i would.

Only thing i would suggest is to keep boiling until you reach your desired volume then cool and pitch your yeast.

 

[WaltG]

Too late now, but I think color looks good, etc. Broke my hydrometer few days ago so in the dark.

 

[FatDragon]

Ok, so doing a 1-gallon BIAB. Calculator told me to use 3 gallons water to start. Ending up having about 1/2-3/4 gallon too much. Will having that much more affect the batch, like will it be weaker?

I don't have anything to put the rest in or i would.

Yeah, it'll be weaker than you intended. You've got the same amount of sugar but more water, meaning a lower sugar-to-water ratio, which is basically what specific gravity measures.

Only thing i would suggest is to keep boiling until you reach your desired volume then cool and pitch your yeast.

The problem with this idea is that the longer boil will change your hops utilization and kill off the flavor and aromatic compounds, so the beer will be much more bitter than intended with little or no hops aroma.

 

[wilserbrewer]

I tried.........

With all due respect, I think you are being led astray by Beersmith or another "calculator", and are making this much much more difficult than need be...It's not that hard at all as you will realize after you have done it.

With 3.1 gallons total water, you will lose about .25 gallons to grain absorption, and .8 gallons to evaporation leaving you with about 2 gallons of wort, for a 1 gallon batch

Perhaps you have losses entered into the calculator...IDK, but I don't believe the numbers!

As said above, I would simply mash in your 9 qt pot with 7.5 quarts resulting in 2.07 gallons of mash (8 quarts), you will lose approx .25 gal (1 quart) to grain absorption leaving you with 6.5 quarts preboil, I would sparge a quart through the bag giving you 7.5 quarts preboil, then boil down to 5 quarts for your 1 gallon batch, guessing about a quart loss to trub etc.

The issue here is that your boiloff is very high, and your batch size is very small, so just do your best to finish your boil close to 4.5 to 5 quarts, add top up water either during the boil or at the end as needed to make batch size if you have trouble.

Too late now for this batch, but for the future...

Always best to have an idea of the volume in your brew kettle, this can be done by making simple gallon or quart marks on your brewing spoon. With this knowledge, you can simply extend the boil to reduce volume to your intended batch size, or conversely, sparge a bit to reach pre-boil volume if you have fallen short. The fix if you have excessive wort, is that you extend just the boil for the first hop addition, extending the middle portion of the boil, and keep the timing for the finishing hops as stated in the recipe. Any late additions stay at 15, 10, 5, or zero minutes (flame out).

So a two hour boil would have the bittering hops boiled for two hours, but all late additions would be timed for the end of the boil.

Rather than blindly following what a calculator tells you, you can also monitor your volumes during the brew session, you can make adjustments as you go.

With a little experience, you will be able to mash in with a given amount...say 2 gallons for a 1 gallon batch, sparge to pre-boil volume, and temper that amount as needed as you proceed to finish at your desired volume.

Try not to get caught up in the numbers, but rather just pay attention to what's in the kettle....cheers!

 

[C-Rider]

Take notes on loss to grain, loss to boil, loss to trub. I have a spread sheet for each brew and pretty much know what to expect. YOu must have entered somethng wrong into the calculator. Why not list your recipe? I use a max of 2.9 gallons making 2 gallon batches w/say 5 lbs of grain.