9 gallons into 3

[Karkinos]

I brewed my third all grain batch yesterday with new equipment--a keggle and burner. I use Brew Target for my software. I brewed an IPA with a 15 lb grain bill. BT called for a 4.568 gallon infusion mash at 1.25 qt/gallon. I ended up using 5 because the temp wasn't even after the stike so I used a half gallon to boost it a bit. I mashed for 90 minutes. I then batch sparged using 4 gallons, letting it sit for 15 minutes. When I emptied the sparge water, I compressed the grains with a plate. I boiled for an hour.

After whirlpooling and cooling I transfered to my primary; a 6.5 gallon glass carboy. I filled it half way. How on earth did I lose so much water?

 

[jaydog2314]

yeah that's a lot of loss, did you measure your pre-boil and post-boil volumes? were they off? i did an IPA yesterday with a 13.5 lb grain bill. mashed with 4.5 gallons, sparged with another 4 after a 60 mins mash. I never compress my grain bed and my pre-boil volume was 6.75 as beersmith predicted and after boiling and cooling i got just over 5 in my fermenter and with my starter I hit my goal of 5.5...So maybe your boil off rate is really high or your grain absorption is high too. might need to calculate the boil off and cooling loss #s differently.

 

[Karkinos]

I use a marked stainless kettle for water prep and ensured I brought 20 qt. to temp for the strike and 16 qt. to temp for the sparge. Is it possible to have too a high a temp when boiling. I just read, either on here or in Zymurgy that a vigorous boil is good, so I kept a high gas flame to keep the boil roiling.

 

[ron,ar]

How much did you drain out of the MLT? If you don't start with enough you can't finish with enough. As Jaydog said 6.75 is a fair approx volume for preboil. I like to have somewhere between 6.5 to 7 gallon preboil. Somedays my boil off rate is higher depending how vigorously it boils. Barometric pressure maybe and wind certainly play a part in boil off rate. Time and experiance will help you figure how much liquid to start the boil off with.
Remember, software is a great guideline, but they are just guidelines. Each setup id different and you need to decide what works for your own setup. Keep good notes on your procedures so you will know how much boiloff you have on average. I would rather boil for 50 minutes than have to add water for the correct volume. jmho

 

[MannyZ]

What is your evaporation rate set at in Brewtarget? I would think your setup could boil off about a gallon per hr?

 

[GuldTuborg]

How much water was left over in your mash tun and boil kettle when you finished? You should have ended up with more than 3 gallons. Water just doesn't disappear, and I've yet to head of boil off rates approximating 3-4 gallons per hour. Something must have happened to all that water.

 

[Karkinos]

I've been chewing on this since Saturday and my review reveals an important mistake. I never marked any volume on my keggle. That is, when putting this brew together, I had no idea what 7 gallons looked like in the keg. I was too anxious to get to brewing and skipped learning a vital piece of information. I measured out five and seven gallons yesterday and I believe I had nearly 7 gallons in the keg. Another mistake is having the gas too high. I boiled too hot causing too much wort to evaporate (outside air temp was 63 degrees with no wind). Finally, while I used a hop bag, when I fished it out, it opened, thereby emptying most of its contents into the keg. After draining, I easily had a gallon of trub. I all likelihood, I have about 4 gallons in my carboy as I clearly remember the wort being up to the five gallon mark after chilling.

Using a burner rather than my stove is a learning experience in and of itself. I'm looking forward to my next brew in order to work on getting the boil flame just right.

 

[GuldTuborg]

Well, at least the mystery seems to be mostly solved. As you're finding out, much of our hobby is knowing your system & method. Anymore, I don't really like to "upgrade" my equipment, as that just means I need to take time to learn the quirks of my new system. If the old one works, even if it's a bit troublesome, at least it's a known quantity.

 

[DPBISME]

Well, at least the mystery seems to be mostly solved. As you're finding out, much of our hobby is knowing your system & method. Anymore, I don't really like to "upgrade" my equipment, as that just means I need to take time to learn the quirks of my new system. If the old one works, even if it's a bit troublesome, at least it's a known quantity.

Ya... the only way you will know this is by keeping a few notes on your system.

I would find a recipe you really like and brew it a few times in a row...

After that you should have good numbers to move forward.

BUT:

Don't be like me... write it down so you don't have to realearn each time you return to brewing...

 

[Karkinos]

Ya... the only way you will know this is by keeping a few notes on your system.

I would find a recipe you really like and brew it a few times in a row...

After that you should have good numbers to move forward.

BUT:

Don't be like me... write it down so you don't have to realearn each time you return to brewing...

That's good advice for all brewers! I keep copious notes in Brew Target. Even though an IPA is a pricey recipe, I'm going to keep taking a whack at it until I get exactly what I want. I am pumped about trying a Simcoe/Amarillo dry hop mixture.

 

[catdaddy66]

Some good advice in this thread! I will be using Brew Target with my first (and subsequent) AG attempts. I will have a trial run with my new equipment to check performance and troubleshoot any issues that come up.

 

[DPBISME]

That's good advice for all brewers! I keep copious notes in Brew Target. Even though an IPA is a pricey recipe, I'm going to keep taking a whack at it until I get exactly what I want. I am pumped about trying a Simcoe/Amarillo dry hop mixture.

Ah... an IPA... I would take a six-pack or so from each batch and hide it for a few months... pull one out "every once in a while" and try it... they age so well... Changing in complexity...

 

[Karkinos]

I just got Brewing Better Beer in the mail today. I'm thumbing through it and here is a quote I found reassuring:

"It takes time to learn a system or to adapt to it after you have made changes. You often won't make beer as good as you previously did until you learn how your system responds, so don't be discouraged--this is a normal part of the learning process." Brewing Better Beer, Gordon Strong

My wife has also been very encouraging, which helps. She's already telling me to just brew again. Guess I'll just have to do what she says!

 

[GrantH]

Now you have a really strong beer!

 

[acidrain]

A couple of thoughts...
You already mentioned measuring volumes. I don't even bother calculating sparge volume. I sparge exactly what I need to make up my pre-boil volume. In other words, do your 1.25 qrts/lb (or whatever you end up with), measure your first mash volume, and then whatever you need for your pre-boil volume is what you need for sparge volume.
Also, instead of one big sparge, break it up into two smaller sparges... BeerSmith usually says about 1/4 of the total sparge volume for the first sparge, and 3/4 for the last. Some guys just split it evenly, but two is better than one.
Keggles generally boil off about 2 gallons/per hr. You should do a test run with water (after you mark your volumes) to see what your boil-off rate is. Add the boil-off rate to your batch size, and there you go. The only thing you really need to calculate is your mash volume, and that is subject to added heat adjustments, so it's really dynamic, but easy once you get it.