all-grain noob problems

[jhennigar]

I am brewing my second all-grain batch today, a belgian wit. It's a 6 gallon batch, and the recipe is from Brewing Classic Styles. Beersmith told me I needed a pre-boil volume of 8.41 gallons. After an hour, I have approx. 7.75 gallons still in there! I have beersmith set that I want to have a 6 gallon batch. Does this seem like accurate numbers, or maybe my boil wasn't rapid enough? I'm going to let it boil a while longer before adding the orange peel and coriander....

Also, my efficiency is low again (it was 60% in my first batch)--by beersmith, its 62%. I'm batch sparging, I read that running off the sparge water should take 30-50 minutes. I did my run off in about 10... Is this a simple solution for next time to get efficiency up?

Thanks for the help!

[mr x]

There are quite a few settings in Beersmith that will factor into estimated preboil requirements. Iirc, there is some kind of wort loss for the kettle that could be affecting your numbers.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 4

[Jimmy]

Doesn't sound like much boil off to me. Normally for a 5g batch I start with ~30 liters of wort and boil down to about 23. Did you measure your preboil volume to make sure it was correct? Maybe you're losing less water in the mash than you expect?

[Jimmy]

The low efficiency from the mash could also be explained by an incorrect volume. If there's too much water in the mash you will come out with a less concentrated wort.

[jhennigar]

I used this site http://merrycuss.com/calc/kettle_volume.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; to determine how much wort I had before I started boiling. I actually did an additional sparge to get my volume up to what beersmith said it should be... Wish I had left it now!

How about my efficiency? Is rushing it most likely the simple problem?

[Jimmy]

I'd fill your pot up half a gallon at a time, and mark on a stick or something to indicate the volume - that way you know the volume is correct. I used my white stir spoon and marked the increments.

I doubt the rushed sparge is the culprit for the low mash efficiency..I never sparged for 30-50 minutes when I did batch sparging. I'd check the water volumes to make sure they are correct - they could be the reason for low gravity readings from the mash.

[jacinthebox]

just finished a 60min boil...my pre boil was 27L...post boil was 21.5L...I like to boil my wort on high...i'm right on target with my beersmith brewsheet.

I like to use the clear plastic fermentors to measure my mash waters, sparge waters, preboil worts, and finally post boil wort....helps keep me on point


what is your trub loss set to? I just reduced mine to 2 litre...I never had the 1 gal that was default on beersmith there....this reduced the total water volume


6 gal batch (23L) + 1gal trub (almost 4L) = 27L in the fermentor...even then it looks like you under boiled the wort...was it a rapid boil?

[jacinthebox]

I only let my batch sparge water rest for 5-10 min, and then drain with the valve about half way open.

is it fly sparging that takes a longer amount of time?

[Keith]

Doesn't sound like much boil off to me. Normally for a 5g batch I start with ~30 liters of wort and boil down to about 23. Did you measure your preboil volume to make sure it was correct? Maybe you're losing less water in the mash than you expect?

I'm taking notes Jimmy since I have your old pot. How many Liters for your mash?

[jhennigar]

just finished a 60min boil...my pre boil was 27L...post boil was 21.5L...I like to boil my wort on high...i'm right on target with my beersmith brewsheet.

I like to use the clear plastic fermentors to measure my mash waters, sparge waters, preboil worts, and finally post boil wort....helps keep me on point


what is your trub loss set to? I just reduced mine to 2 litre...I never had the 1 gal that was default on beersmith there....this reduced the total water volume


6 gal batch (23L) + 1gal trub (almost 4L) = 27L in the fermentor...even then it looks like you under boiled the wort...was it a rapid boil?

That might be it? It was set to a gallon. As long as I get better each time and don't start making worse beer, I'll be happy. Thanks for the help everyone!

[Jimmy]

Doesn't sound like much boil off to me. Normally for a 5g batch I start with ~30 liters of wort and boil down to about 23. Did you measure your preboil volume to make sure it was correct? Maybe you're losing less water in the mash than you expect?

I'm taking notes Jimmy since I have your old pot. How many Liters for your mash?

That's dependent on the amount of grain you add. I just looked at a 1.066 recipe and it called for 35 liters of water in the mash (no sparge mash, and zero dead space in the mash tun) - most will be in that range.

[Broob]

just finished a 60min boil...my pre boil was 27L...post boil was 21.5L...I like to boil my wort on high...i'm right on target with my beersmith brewsheet.

I like to use the clear plastic fermentors to measure my mash waters, sparge waters, preboil worts, and finally post boil wort....helps keep me on point


what is your trub loss set to? I just reduced mine to 2 litre...I never had the 1 gal that was default on beersmith there....this reduced the total water volume


6 gal batch (23L) + 1gal trub (almost 4L) = 27L in the fermentor...even then it looks like you under boiled the wort...was it a rapid boil?

That might be it? It was set to a gallon. As long as I get better each time and don't start making worse beer, I'll be happy. Thanks for the help everyone!

That was messing up my volumes as well - made a huge difference setting it low - mine is at 0.1 L

[Tony L]

Only need to sparge slow if you are fly sparging. When batch sparging get it out as fast as you can without getting a stuck sparge. The sugars are rinsed and diluted with the larger amount of water you add to the tun when you do the sparge.