still more questions sorry

[darrenwest1]

i am reading the brew your own british real ales
But i think i have my head round most of it there are still a few things i am stuck on
for example
once you put the water on with the grains for the 90 mins or so then you drain off the liquid i belive you sparge at about 80 degrees slowly pouring the water over the grain to release the sugars
i think i have this right
so my question is
how much water do i put in to the grains for 90 mins and how much do i use to sparge with
i will be doing 23l brews

thanks again guys

 

[Aleman]

Use 2.5L to 3.0 L per Kilo of grain in the mash tun . . . The grain will adsorb about 1.04L per Kilo meaning you should get 1.5-2L per kilo out of the mash tun in addition to however much sparge liquor you use.

For Sparging I use the same amount of liquor that I want as a final Volume of beer, so if its a 23L batch then it's 23L of Sparge liquor. . . . I may not use all of that but it comes close most times.

Generally I stop sparging one I have collected enough sugar to make the final Vol of beer at the gravity I want after the boil allowing for losses to the hops and boiler

 

[tubthumper]

how much you start with is dependant on the recipie some say stiff mash ect most are to be like porridge , slightly loose
as to how much you sparge with that is untill you get the amount you want or the gravity drops bellow a certain point , again in th recipie.

now the majority of brews state that 2.5lts per kilo of grain for mash and sparge until you get 25 ltrs in total.

that is not a hard and fast rule though as it varies quite a lot

so take first recipie in book as example
arkell's mash-tum mild

for 19ltls finish

grain bill is for 3.065kg malts in total

its states total liquor of 26.3ltr

and mash liquor of 7.3lts


so that is just under 2.5ltrs per kg giving 2.38ltrs per kg
so he gives all the info in the recipie
the total liquor is the amount he deems that you need to get the final volume
so treat 26.3lt of water and use 7.3 of it in the mash tun
then when mash is over sparge with the rest

and after boil you should ( and thats dependant on lots of things like dead space ect)
get 19 ltrs.
but you need to add the dead space to the total licquor bill as it has to go somewhere.

so once you get your head round it then it makes perfect sense.
for the book at least . any other recipie is a different mater .

 

[darrenwest1]

guys thanks so much that makes sense now i really apreciate the time taken to answer this for me

 

[darrenwest1]

so i am looking at a morland speckled hen recipe
pale malt 3780
sugar 570
cristal malt 380
black malt 29

i says total liquer 32.5 litres
mash liquer 10.5 litres

in stupid terms what does this mean

i assume then that the 32.5l is what i put in to the mash tun with the grain and the 10.5 is the sparge amount

 

[tubthumper]

treat and heat 32.5 ltr of water plus your dead space 9 work this out by puttong water in your mash tun and then measuring what is left when you drain it

the pour into the mash tun 10.5ltrs wait a while for tun to heat up then add grains

after mash time is up slowly add the rest of the water and sparge with the water left

hope that makes sense

 

[darrenwest1]

the pour into the mash tun 10.5ltrs wait a while for tun to heat up then add grains

after mash time is up slowly add the rest of the water and sparge with the water left

hope that makes sense[/quote]


so ive got add the 10.5l then the grains
assming i have 5 litres of dead space i will have 27.5 left
you say add rest of water then sparge with what is left but there wont be any left if i add it to the mash
but this is where i am confused there wont be any left if i add it to the mash or do you mean sparge with the 27.5l that i have

 

[tubthumper]

ok so you got 5 ltrs dead space now you got to heat up treat 32.5 PLUS 5 ltrs so thats 37.5lts

pour 10.5 into tun add the grains wait 60-90 mins then you got 27ltrs to sparge with

my mistake with grammer you sparge with the remaining liquor in this case 27 ltrs

 

[darrenwest1]

makes perfect sense

thanks so much

 

[darrenwest1]

next little question sorry
when doing the 90 min boil should it be done with the lid on to reduce liquid evaporation or off

 

[Wez]

no, the boil drives off impurities you dont want condensing and dripping back in.

lid off.

 

[darrenwest1]

so i need to work out how much wort evaporates to ensure i am left with 32 litres
is that right
any ideas how much i will lose i have a 45cm dia boiler coming from md

 

[Wez]

It all depends on the environment you boil in in a draught will knock the boil off for example, new elements will work like stink, old elements will not giove you such a vigourous boil.

Trial and error man :thumb:

 

[darrenwest1]

i think a dry run is in order

not literally a dry run

 

[Wez]

i think a dry run is in order

not literally a dry run

I tried that when I was 16, it wasn't pretty.

 

[tubthumper]

graham has worked it all out for you in the book
he has taken into account the amount lost to grains, hops and the boil.
trust the recipie. If you find fault then adjust to suit yuor equipment, wost that will happen is you will have a stronger beer.

 

[Aleman]

I would reckon on 20-25% lost to evaporation during the boil with a single uncontrolled 3KW element. . . . .

AS to lid on / lid off I boil with 90% of my boiler covered apart from the last 15 minutes after the cooler goes in. . . . no issues with any undesirables remaining in my wort