Why did my recipe make way more wort than it was supposed to?

[Michigone]

Hey all, so my first home brew ever and also first all grain went great! Built a lot of the stuff myself, and it was so much fun!

Anyway, my recipe called for 11.88 quarts for the mash and then 5 gallons of sparge. This gave me 8 gallons of wort. I had to throw 3 gallons away just to get it into my primary.

Am I not supposed to use all of the sparge? Will The fact that my hops additions were into 8 gallons rather than 5 and change gallons significantly lessen the hop presence in my final product? What's the deal homebrewtalker's?

 

[mcaple1]

are you sure you were using barley in your recipe....no seriously though. at that volume, you had 0% grain absorption....in fact, you got more wort than total mash and sparge water. You my friend...are a genius!

 

[WortMonger]

Yeah, the math isn't adding up. We need more information to be able to help you out. You should of had some grain absorption and therefore ended with less water than you put in, not more.

 

[Yooper]

Something doesn't add up. If you used 11.88 quarts for the mash, I would assume you had 9.5 pounds of grain.

Since the grain would absorb about a gallon of liquid, and you mashed in with 11.88 quarts (a bit less than 3 gallons), you'd get out about 2 gallons from the mash. If you sparged with 5 gallons, you'd have about 7 gallons. If you boiled for an hour, you'd end up with 5.5 gallons or so.

Normally, you measure your first runnings and simply sparge up to the boil volume. But those numbers are about right. There is simply no way possible you had 8 gallons to start your boil with if you used 3 gallons for the mash and 5 gallons for the sparge- you may have had 7 or a bit less. Your measurements of the liquid are way off for some reason.

 

[BrewKnurd]

Hey all, so my first home brew ever and also first all grain went great! Built a lot of the stuff myself, and it was so much fun!

Anyway, my recipe called for 11.88 quarts for the mash and then 5 gallons of sparge. This gave me 8 gallons of wort. I had to throw 3 gallons away just to get it into my primary.

Am I not supposed to use all of the sparge? Will The fact that my hops additions were into 8 gallons rather than 5 and change gallons significantly lessen the hop presence in my final product? What's the deal homebrewtalker's?

Yeah, as mcaple mentioned, this just isn't possible. You got more water than you started with?

If you only added 8 gallons to start with, there is simply no way to end up with 8 gallons. You're going to lose at least a gallon that absorbs into the grain. You're going to lose a significant volume to boil off.

There's no way we can tell you how you ended up with 8 gallons of wort from 8 gallons of water because its just not possible. Your measurements were off somewhere.

 

[brandonhagen1]

did you even boil for the hour,I did not read in your description that you even boiled you need to do that.

 

[Michigone]

are you sure you were using barley in your recipe....no seriously though. at that volume, you had 0% grain absorption....in fact, you got more wort than total mash and sparge water. You my friend...are a genius!

Lol! Shoot, I always think I'm being thorough, and then I get asked for more info. Okay, so there was one part of my process when I raised my hands over the mash tun and asked God to multiply the water and the grain... No jk jk.

I guess I'll go back and check my process. Thanks for all the fast replies!!

 

[cl330b]

I am also curious to know if you boiled. Where was the grain crushed? What was the gravity reading when you transfered into the primary?

 

[Michigone]

Actually I boiled it for 80 minutes, per recipe. it was not a vigorous boil, but it was boiling. The first mash runoff was coming out clean out of my mash tun, and the grain was still wet in the mash tun, after both the first runoff and the sparge, but I still ended up with A lot more than 5 gallons of wort.

9.5 lbs of grain is correct... Mind reader!

 

[Michigone]

I am also curious to know if you boiled. Where was the grain crushed? What was the gravity reading when you transfered into the primary?

The grain was milled at my local home brew store. Grain temp was 67.8 avg. Strike water was 174.6 sparge was 175. 9.5 lbs grain. Boil for 80 minutes, supposed to yield 5.01 gallons. Gravity reading was 1.036, seemed low.

 

[Bobby_M]

My guess is inaccurate measurement of the water at some point. Preboil should been about 7 gal and it would reduce down to 5.5 after 80 minutes.

 

[weirdboy]

I guess I'm the one who has to ask the basic questions here.


How are you measuring the volume of mash and sparge water? How are you measuring the volume in the kettle? How are you measuring the volume in the fermenter?

 

[cl330b]

Actually I boiled it for 80 minutes, per recipe. it was not a vigorous boil, but it was boiling. The first mash runoff was coming out clean out of my mash tun, and the grain was still wet in the mash tun, after both the first runoff and the sparge, but I still ended up with A lot more than 5 gallons of wort.

9.5 lbs of grain is correct... Mind reader!

The first run offs were "clean"? Meaning as clear as the water you put in? Or are you referring to bits and pieces of grain? Thanks, just curious!

 

[mcaple1]

HAHA....dude, it sounds like your LHBS took you for a ride and didn't crush your grains! BOOYAAA!