Using sparge water as top-off water

[WilliamstonBrew]

I only have two small pots to brew in, the bigger of the two holding only 1.5 gallons at max.

I am doing a recipe today that calls for steeping 2 lbs. of grains in 1 gallon of water, then sparging in a second gallon of water.

Here is my plan: steep the grains in the pot I'll be boiling the wort in, sparging in the second pot, let the sparge water cool off and dump it in the primary, topping off with cold tap water to stabilize the temperature.

Is there anything important about adding the sparge water to the boil that I am not considering or does this sound like it will work?

 

[TelemarkBrew]

no don't do that. grains have bacteria on them that can spoil the beer. you need to boil what you steep/sparge the grains with. assuming this is just steeping and not a partial mash, just forgo the sparge step, or sparge in the other pot and add it to the boil as some evaporates.

 

[springer]

+1 dont do that . Really dude you need a bigger pot . 12 qt cheapie at Wallyworld is what 10 bucks .

 

[MMW]

Are you doing a split boil (Boiling two pots at the same time)? Steep in one, sparge in the other, boil both, split your extract/hops between the two, and combine in the fermenter.

Getting a bigger pot is the better option, though.

 

[Synovia]

+1 dont do that . Really dude you need a bigger pot . 12 qt cheapie at Wallyworld is what 10 bucks .

Walmart had a 34 qt aluminum steamer for $21 last time i was there.

 

[WilliamstonBrew]

The only thing I buy at Walmart is pistol ammo, but I took your guys' advice and went to Meijer and picked up a 16 quart stainless steel.

I'm brewing Arkador's Dunkelweizen and it calls for a 2 gallon boil.

Man... having a bigger pot is absolutely AWESOME! After adding the extract comes my most loathed part of the brewing process: the foam build up. Even getting the water back to a boil after the extract addition, it never really came close to boiling over. What a relief!

Thanks for the replies!

 

[HillbillyDeluxe]

Dude, go get the 34qt pot. It aint even gotta be stainless i use an enamel one i got on sale in the camping section. Works great.

 

[Captain_Bigelow]

I got a 17qt stainless steel pot from Big Lots for $12.

 

[WilliamstonBrew]

I'm on it...

Even though I am 28 years old my dad still loves getting me birthday presents. This year it's going to be a Bayou Classic propane burner and a 34 quart pot.

All grain all the way! Now I'll have to build a wort chiller. Good thing I have summers off, I need stuff to do!

 

[TelemarkBrew]

nice, i too am 28 and a birthday present (true brew equip kit) from my parents was what started me in this hobby 2 years ago.

 

[Duane_Austin]

I'm on it...

Even though I am 28 years old my dad still loves getting me birthday presents. This year it's going to be a Bayou Classic propane burner and a 34 quart pot.

All grain all the way! Now I'll have to build a wort chiller. Good thing I have summers off, I need stuff to do!

nice, i too am 28 and a birthday present (true brew equip kit) from my parents was what started me in this hobby 2 years ago.

You guys make me depressed.

I turn 42 today, and just got started with homebrewing a few months ago.

I don't care about missing that opportunity in life to play guitar, be in a band, change the world, do something great, or any of that stuff.

Reading you just makes me sad that I didn't start making beer when I was in my twenties.

You're lucky. You've found your calling at the perfect age.

 

[hammacks]

Careful using enamel. I made a few high gravity brews last summer in a large enamel pot that has a couple dime sized nicks in the enamel. Now they taste very metallic.

 

[jpowers1]

My brother and I started with a really nice pot from a restaurant supply, but it's probably 12 qt. We now use the $12 Big Lots one, it was cheap as anything, but oh so much better than the nice pot...

 

[WilliamstonBrew]

You guys make me depressed.

I turn 42 today, and just got started with homebrewing a few months ago.

I don't care about missing that opportunity in life to play guitar, be in a band, change the world, do something great, or any of that stuff.

Reading you just makes me sad that I didn't start making beer when I was in my twenties.

You're lucky. You've found your calling at the perfect age.

Better late than never though, right? You still have at least 40+ years of brewing ahead of you... granted, the idea cleaning out a glass carboy over a sink at the age of 80 doesn't sound particularly safe, but if you're going to die I can think of worse ways. Well... no, scratch that. An 80 year old being impaled on chunks of broken carboy, slowly bleeding out alone on the kitchen floor - that's the best argument for the buddy system I can think of.

/tangent off.

 

[springer]

Careful using enamel. I made a few high gravity brews last summer in a large enamel pot that has a couple dime sized nicks in the enamel. Now they taste very metallic.

if the enamel is cracked or broken toss the pot it worthless to cook/brew in

 

[yeasty]

what if you boil and cool the sparge water first ?

 

[Yooper]

what if you boil and cool the sparge water first ?

Then it would be fine. As long as the wort (and it's wort because of the grains) is boiled, it will be fine. Grains have a ton of bacteria on them, and that's why the wort has to be boiled. Well, that and you have to boil the hops. Anyway, if you boil anything that has grains, and cool it, and pitch yeast into it fairly quickly, that will be fine.

 

[yeasty]

i just noticed on my first AG batch that if you use too much sparge water you will have some good top-off water if you need it later. i boiled mine while i was doing hops additions knowing that i might need some....still learning the water volumes thing.