Excess wort/long boil time

[Brharo]

i just brewed my first all grain batch on saturday. i had an issue with the volume of wort that i think was caused by a lot less absorption than expected during the mash (and probably a miscalculation). after the mash with 5 gallons i double sparged with 2.5 gallons each time. i ended up with 8.5 gallons of wort. i decided to boil this down to my wanted volume so i boiled for 2 hours to get to 6 gallons and started my 60 minute boil (and first hop addition) after the two hours. i've seen similar threads on here about too much wort but i figured i would be more likely to hit my OG by keeping the volume and boiling down rather than tossing it. has anyone had a bad experience or know of any negative effects from such a long boil? PS I hit my OG on the nose at 1.080 so I'm thinking everything may be ok. thanks!

 

[Spintab]

I've been getting into the habit of taking refractometer readings while sparging but I usually just sparge until I have the preboil volume I'm looking for. Granted, I fly sparge. It sounds like maybe you're batch sparging? It depends on your kettle, burner, boil vigor, wind, etc but your boil off should be fairly consistent from batch to batch. I usually calculate recipes at 6gal post boil and plan on leaving a few quarts or so in the bottom of the kettle. That being said preboil is about 7-7.25 gallons.

I have to say though, nice work MacGyvering your way out of that one. I don't see any reason for off flavors because of the boil. Maybe more caramel flavor? If you were fly sparging, I'd be more concerned about an extra long sparge and ph issues.

 

[Brharo]

Thanks for the quick reply. Yes batch sparging. I was boiling off at about 1 gallon per hour which is normal from what I've heard. Yea more caramel flavor makes sense, we'll see!

I'm wondering if the boil off was necessary to get to the original gravity? I assume I collected more sugars with the higher sparge and only the water was boiled off, this increasing the gravity. I should have taken more gravity readings. I guess I'll know for next time!

 

[Spintab]

No problem. You probably collected a little more sugar but I wouldn't think a whole lot. You probably just ended up with really weak preboil wort. The long boil would have been 100% necessary to get it up the the gravity you were looking for without adding extract. Again, that was a good call on your part.

I don't know how many non-all grain batches you did prior to this but I'd just take your time and get used to the new process. Work on hitting proper mash temps and volumes. Stay sanitary. Take gravity readings but don't adjust right away. Compensate on your next batch for something you might have done on this one. Relax, don't over think it for a while. Just make beer. Spend your extra efforts on fermenting precisely first. If you can ferment well, your beer will still be the bomb even if you came up short on your gravity.