3v from biab questions

[mrsupraboy]

So what do I do exactly. I'm a bit confused about how I would do it

 

[Adr_0]

Sparging is literally rinsing. A static mash will have a certain amount of transfer of sugar into the water, which will be more difficult as the sugar concentration increases in the water. Moving the water around (stirring the mash) helps reduce the local concentration near the grains, as does recirculation with a pump.

However at some point the mass transfer will drop off and you won't get any more sugar into the water. At this point you need to move the water somewhere else (drain) and top up with fresh water to allow the transfer to happen again. This is sparging, and there is a step change in extraction by using it.

A dilute mash has some efficiency gains over a stiff mash because of the reasons above and 'no sparge' is of course the same. There is a step change in efficiency when fresh water is brought in to rinse the sugar out of the grains.

Further to this the more grain you have in the mash, the more residual sugar you keep in the grains. This essentially lines up with higher gravity brews (assuming you don't supplement with sugar) holding more sugar in the grain, so you get less lauter efficiency. Yes, you can counteract this somewhat by using more water, a higher preboil volume and a longer boil. Somewhere you run into a capacity, time or energy problem though.

I went through a full 8KG bottle last weekend on my 100L 3V. 70L knockout first batch and about 45L on the second.

90 minute boils...

go electric...

So what sort of heating element would you use for that?

 

[mrsupraboy]

Would I put half of the water in then sit it for an hour and a half then move to the boiling pot then do the next

 

[Yob]

I went through a full 8KG bottle last weekend on my 100L 3V. 70L knockout first batch and about 45L on the second.

90 minute boils...

go electric...

I punch out 75l at a go and get 4-5 brews per 9kg bottle.. That is extraordinary gas usage

 

[Adr_0]

Would I put half of the water in then sit it for an hour and a half then move to the boiling pot then do the next

Yeah, essentially. Your grain absorbs a bit so your first addition will be a bit more.

So you would have a bit in your hot water vessel, add this into your mash and let that sit a while. You could recirc using RIMS or HERMS if you want. You then move this over to your kettle.

In parallel you have the rest of your water (preboil volume minus first runnings volume) in the hot water vessel and can either batch sparge (put it all in in one go and recirc) or fly sparge (continuously run it over the grain bed as you flow into the kettle).

3V means you do everything in three discrete vessels, so it's nice in that regard. You don't have to move grain around (while brewing) and don't have to move wort/water back and forth like with 2V.

 

[Yob]

Would I put half of the water in then sit it for an hour and a half then move to the boiling pot then do the next

If batch sparging, yes, if fly sparging, no

I was fly sparging for single batches but moved back to batch for larger volumes just due to the time it takes to fly sparging 50 liters.

 

[mrsupraboy]

So are you saying to make 100 litres I'm gonna do 50 litres at a time. Is that correct

 

[Yob]

No, you may have, depending on your mash tun size,

15kg grain = 45lt strike liquor (3lt/kg ratio) - 15lt for grain absorption

30lt first runnings + sparge liquor to make up volume

Obviously you will be constrained by the size of your mash tun.

Software is your friend here, brewmate can calculate the volumes for you if you set the parameters which is pretty darn easy to do.

 

[mrsupraboy]

I got brew mate but obviously don't understand how to use it

 

[mrsupraboy]

So if I have 3*100l pots. What size batches should I be aiming for.

 

[Yob]

In the settings, you can input your batch volume and efficiency etched, then the brewday printout will tell you how much strike/sparge you need, certain things you need to know like boil off ratio etched but you can just wing it or do just a water boil to work it out.

 

[Yob]

So if I have 3*100l pots. What size batches should I be aiming for.

I aim for a comfortable 75 from a 120lt kettle, you won't get 100lt from a 100lt pot

 

[mrsupraboy]

I know that but from what I'm gathering Is that you have your hlt. At 100l of water I'm only putting in 3:1 water to grain ratio. For a 45 L batch I use around 10 kg of grain so that would mean for 20kg of grain for about 90l batch I would be doing 60 litres at a time. Well cause only 100 litres I would do 50. Is that correct

 

[mrsupraboy]

Sorry guys a bit confused thought I had it down pact or somewhat

 

[jonnir]

Im just adding numbers into my software (brew mate)

For 60 litres into the fermenter its telling me i would need about 13kg of grain. Thats with a brewhouse effeciency of 65%

All these numbers here are rounded up

Strike water - 40L
Sparge Water - 60L
Wort before boil - 74L

For 60L your looking at about 80L pot, you could almost go quad batch with your 100L pots

 

[mrsupraboy]

That's the idea

 

[mrsupraboy]

So do I put the strike water in for an hour and a half. Move to the boiling pot then add the spare water in for an hour and a half then to the boiling. Then boil

 

[seamad]

Pots don't have to be the same volume either, for eg my HLT is 40L, mashtun 57L and kettle 70L.
Get a hold of this book and do some reading, it's a very good book and will help your brewing.
http://www.bookdepository.com/Brewing-Better-Beer-Gordon-Strong/9780937381984

 

[Yob]

No, all your conversion has happened,

Batch sparge = 10 min with pump on

Fly sparge = 1lt in per minute / 1lt out per min

 

[Yob]

It might help you to attend and watch a 3V in operation or get someone over to help you through your first one mate, just seems to be quite a few holes in your understanding of process, mardoo and I are doing one next weekend if that helps?

Ed: I note you are in Sydney so maybe someone more local can assist