warra48 wrote:Your volume issues are what a lot of first time AG brewers experience. My first AG was planned for 23 litres, but I ended up with only 15 in the fermenter.
The loss of volume as such is not a big issue, and can be made up easily once you know your system and what your efficiency and output is. The difficulty with the smaller than planned volumes is that it throws out your calculations for IBU levels, and you potentially end up with a beer which is too bitter.
I think your starting volume was too small. For a 23 litre batch I need to collect about 30 litres of wort. I lose about 5 litres to evaporation, another litre to contraction of volume due to chilling, and about 1 to 1½ litres trub etc in the kettle. (I strain my kettle trub into a PET bottle, and freeze it for starters, so no waste at all)
Your evaporation / boil off volume seems very high to me, and I think your boil was probably much too vigorous.
Once I get my kettle to the boil I turn down the heat until I get a gently rolling boil, but no more. A gently rolling boil is one where the wort convects and breaks the surface. I don't believe there is any benefit in a very vigorous boil, although some will disagree with me. I also believe a gentler boil will also allow more of your hot break to clump together, whereas a hard boil allows it to continue to collide and prevents clumping.
Yes, you should be concerned about minimising the losses you describe from your mashtun and kettle.
My mash tun loses only ½ litre, and your loss of 1½ litre seems high. How do you drain your mash tun?
>>>>> Beerbelly falsie 47ltr Coleman esky
warra48 wrote:The 3 litres left in the kettle is larger than I would expect from my system. How do you drain your kettle?
>>>>> Beerbelly Hopscreen 60 ltr kettle widemouth
warra48 wrote:Yes, you can add more water to make up your planned volume, but be aware you will dilute the SG, and you might end up with watery thin flavourless beer.
The time to really add water is preboil, but you need to dial in your system, and know what it does before you can do that. In my case, I often only get 28 litres of wort into the kettle when I complete sparging, and I add about 2 litres of water preboil. However, even after doing that I still achieve or exceed my target gravity.
Why did you do a 90 minute boil? Usually 60 minutes is sufficient for most types of brew.
>>>>> I see a lot of recipes that boil for 90, I thought I had read that it gets the hot break well and done before the addition of hops. No need, go 75 or 60?
warra48 wrote:Without knowing your recipes and planned volumes, I can't comment on your efficiencies and what you should have expected. Can you give us more information?
Yes, I will show you the APA I did after my first. I have adjusted things in Beersmith with this one and it ended up ok volume wise, I got a bit more out of the kettle too leaving around 2ltrs in. My technique of mashing and sparging may be a problem too. I put the water in, then grain, give it a good stir up, put lid on for 60, then open the tap full and drain, put sparge in mix a bit then drain.
How fast do you drain? How much and how often do you mix the grain?
warra48 wrote:Glad you enjoyed the day, no looking back now!
This is the APA
Type: All Grain
Date: 28/01/2009
Batch Size: 23.00 L
Brewer:
Boil Size: 36.99 L Asst Brewer:
Boil Time: 90 min Equipment: My AG equipment
Taste Rating(out of 50): 35.0 Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00
Taste Notes:
Ingredients
Amount Item Type % or IBU
3.50 kg BB Ale Malt (6.3 SRM) Grain 70.00 %
1.00 kg Weyermann Munich (16.0 SRM) Grain 20.00 %
0.50 kg BB Wheat Malt (3.2 SRM) Grain 10.00 %
18.00 gm Magnum [12.50 %] (60 min) Hops 25.9 IBU
18.00 gm Simcoe [12.80 %] (10 min) Hops 9.6 IBU
15.00 gm Simcoe [12.80 %] (0 min) Hops -
0.50 items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 10.0 min) Misc
1 Pkgs American Ale yeast 1056 Yeast-Ale
Beer Profile
Hydrometer Gravity reading pre boil of 1036 at 27C
Est Original Gravity: 1.047 SG >>>>
Measured Original Gravity: Haven't done one yet
Est Final Gravity: 1.014 SG Measured Final Gravity: 1.005 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 4.34 % Actual Alcohol by Vol: 0.65 %
Bitterness: 35.5 IBU Calories: 90 cal/l
Est Color: 9.3 SRM Color: Color
Mash Profile
Mash Name: Single Infusion, Full Body, Batch Sparge Total Grain Weight: 5.00 kg
Sparge Water: 31.80 L Grain Temperature: 20.0 C
Sparge Temperature: 75.6 C TunTemperature: 20.0 C
Adjust Temp for Equipment: TRUE Mash PH: 5.4 PH
Single Infusion, Full Body, Batch Sparge Step Time Name Description Step Temp @2.3ltrs per Kg
60 min Mash In Add 11.50 L of water at 74.5 C 66.0 C
I pretty much hit my boil size of 37 litres, I got 29 after the boil and got alot more from the kettle to fill a 20ltr Jerry can to the brim, so maybe they can take more than twenty. I think I need to get more from my mash and turn down the burner.
Thanks Warra, great help.