Need More Water, Not Enough Kettle!

[iamleescott]

Hello All,

Normally I brew small 4gal batches (BIAB) in my 8gal kettle - because of the smaller batch size, I can comfortably fill enough water in my kettle + grain bill without it all overflowing for the mash.

Tomorrow, I want to aim for my first 5gal batch and after running the calculations, I'm going to need 7.63gal mash water, but the total mash volume will be 8.66gal! Not enough space.

So how do you experts do it?

Is this as simple as mashing with less water in the kettle at the beginning (if so, how much?)...raise the bag with grain....then add more water? Do I just need to heat up the additional water to the mash temperature, before adding to the kettle?

Thanks - I just need a little reassurance and wisdom.

 

[MaxStout]

Mash with less than the 7.63 gallons, and keep the remainder of the water heated in another vessel. When the mash is done, hoist out the bag, and let it hang over the kettle. Do a pour-over sparge with the remaining water. Slowly pour the sparge over the bag and let it drip through into the kettle. Then bring to a boil as you normally would.

 

[Samlbowles]

So, what I do is mash enough to fill my pot, raise and squeeze the bag, then open the bag and run room temp water through the bag to extract a little more sugars for my wort. This helps me meet the volume needed for boil while also meeting my PBG.

And if your PBG is still under just dip out some of the wort and run it back through the bag again. Really squeeze it and you will end up meeting your target.

 

[RM-MN]

What I would do is:
1. Crush finer so I wouldn't need as much grain. A very fine crush will increase the mash efficiency.
2. Measure the amount of wort collected. If I felt that I was just a little short, I'd squeeze that bag of grains like it owed me more. If I still was short, I'd do a sparge. Cool water works as well as hot for sparging.
3. Use less heat during the boil so I don't boil off as much. The boil does not need to be very vigorous, just a slow roll is all it needs.
4. Still short after the boil? Add water. That's what you boiled off so replace some of it.

 

[LittleRiver]

If your kettle doesn't have a drain valve, reserve a portion of your water (up to 50%) and do a sparge by pouring that water over the bag, or dunking the bag in the reserved water. If your kettle has a drain valve there's another way, which I find to be easier:

• mash with 50% of your total water volume
• when the mash is complete, drain the wort into a bucket, leaving the bag/grains in place
• add the rest of the water to the grains and stir thoroughly
• raise the bag and tie it off so gravity can drain it into the kettle, fire the heat for the boil
• pour the wort from the bucket into the kettle

 

[Soulshine2]

Hello All,

Normally I brew small 4gal batches (BIAB) in my 8gal kettle - because of the smaller batch size, I can comfortably fill enough water in my kettle + grain bill without it all overflowing for the mash.

Tomorrow, I want to aim for my first 5gal batch and after running the calculations, I'm going to need 7.63gal mash water, but the total mash volume will be 8.66gal! Not enough space.

So how do you experts do it?

Is this as simple as mashing with less water in the kettle at the beginning (if so, how much?)...raise the bag with grain....then add more water? Do I just need to heat up the additional water to the mash temperature, before adding to the kettle?

Thanks - I just need a little reassurance and wisdom.

My advice , because I too started with an 8 gallon kettle. Buy a 10 gallon kettle. I did and am very glad of it. Plenty of room for 5 and 6 gallon batches plus the worry of a boil over is greatly reduced if not altogether eliminated.