Fishin-Jay
Well-Known Member
I've seen in a couple posts people mentioning that it's better to use your refractometer to check on your gravity throughout the sparge and to "brew to hit your target gravity rather than brew to hit your target volume." Essentially they were saying it's better to have 4 gallons of beer at the right gravity rather than 5 gallons at too low of a gravity.
I agree with this sentiment, but I don't know how to tell if my gravity is going to be correct or not.
For example, I know that my system boils off 1.5 gallons per hour in the kettle and I leave .75 gallons in the kettle with the trub. So, if I want 5.25 gallons in my primary I need to start with 7.5 gallons of wort, boil for one hour down to 6 gallons, then transfer to the fermenter.
In the same scenario if I want 6 gallons of 1.080 wort remaining after the boil, I need my preboil gravity to be 1.064 at 7.5 gallons.
My question is this: As I am fly sparging and my volume is at 5 gallons, what should my gravity be if I am going to hit 1.064 at 7.5 gallons? Since the wort gravity coming out of the mash tun is continuously decreasing (ie the first few drops out of the tun are higher gravity than the last few drops), how can I tell if I'm going to hit my target while I'm mid-sparge?
I agree with this sentiment, but I don't know how to tell if my gravity is going to be correct or not.
For example, I know that my system boils off 1.5 gallons per hour in the kettle and I leave .75 gallons in the kettle with the trub. So, if I want 5.25 gallons in my primary I need to start with 7.5 gallons of wort, boil for one hour down to 6 gallons, then transfer to the fermenter.
In the same scenario if I want 6 gallons of 1.080 wort remaining after the boil, I need my preboil gravity to be 1.064 at 7.5 gallons.
My question is this: As I am fly sparging and my volume is at 5 gallons, what should my gravity be if I am going to hit 1.064 at 7.5 gallons? Since the wort gravity coming out of the mash tun is continuously decreasing (ie the first few drops out of the tun are higher gravity than the last few drops), how can I tell if I'm going to hit my target while I'm mid-sparge?