Agghhhh Cant Hit Target Volumes An Gravity
- Thread starter scrumpy
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np1962
It's all about the Beer
I'm not getting this!
Why did you stop your sparge at 28L? Your boil volume says 38L why stop 10L short and then top up with what? Plain tap Water?
Your efficiency is NOT 102% if you are 10L short of your required volume.
You have a lot of work to do to understand the process IMO, may be a good idea for you to do a brew with someone who has experience so you can see how things are done.
I am assuming you are new to AG brewing.
Cheers
Nige
manticle
Standing up for the Aussie Bottler
This is what I was trying to get at earlier (and I think someone else before me).
Why are you mashing higher gravity than you want then diluting? Why not try and get the right SG and volume of wort in the first place?
Why are you mashing higher gravity than you want then diluting? Why not try and get the right SG and volume of wort in the first place?
np1962
It's all about the Beer
You guys were being far too subtle!
manticle
Standing up for the Aussie Bottler
I am a beige blanket flapping in the autumn wind
@Bum - the sparging references made me figure it was tun brewing rather than BIAB.
@Bum - the sparging references made me figure it was tun brewing rather than BIAB.
This is what I am trying to work out!! I thought the idea was to stop sparging when the run off reaches 1.012ish, if I continued collecting wort till I reached my 38L target the run off would be much lower would'nt it??
np1962
It's all about the Beer
Your figures don't seem to add up. Where is all your wort going?
In my case I aim for 22L into the fermenter.
To get there I start with 30.5L pre boil, allow 15% boil off(4.5L/hr), 3L lost to trub and cooling loss of 4%(about 1L).
If you had 28L and stopped @1.017 another 2L wouldn't have been a problem using my figures.
Not sure where you are having problems but hope seeing what others do can help you figure it out.
Cheers
Nige
manticle
Standing up for the Aussie Bottler
Let's go backwards.
First what kind of system are you mashing in? How big is it?
Are you fly sparging or batch sparging?
As far as I'm aware you shouldn't sparge past 1010 but you're stopping at 1017. I have a small system and have no trouble getting 32 L preboil with only one batch sparge (unless higher grav in which case I do a second smaller one).
First what kind of system are you mashing in? How big is it?
Are you fly sparging or batch sparging?
As far as I'm aware you shouldn't sparge past 1010 but you're stopping at 1017. I have a small system and have no trouble getting 32 L preboil with only one batch sparge (unless higher grav in which case I do a second smaller one).
Of course it would, but your first runnings are way up there. the Idea is to end up with all of your runnings in the kettle at your target preboil gravity. Beersmith works this all out for you, first runnings are way too high and final runnings are low, combined it should hit your target preboil gravity.
Can you please take post your Beersmith Brewsheet, it lists all of the steps for your brew. You are duck fupping a little :lol: we'll get you sorted.
Cheers,
Screwy
Cheers for yout time guys.
I use a 50L keg to do my mash
I transfer the grist grist into a G&G 20L lauter tun (plastic bucket)
I then fly sparge at 78ish deg at a rate of about 1l per min.
Im starting to see that im cutting off my sparge to early, and also had my evap rat way to high.
manticle
Standing up for the Aussie Bottler
I can't help you with fly sparging techniques as I'm a batch sparger but it doesn't seem right to me that you couldn't hit target volume with a 50L tun if your grist is worked out correctly. My tun is 26 Litres and I can push single batches (19-24 L dependent) of 1050-1070 no worries.
I would go back to basics - first brew a simple recipe of average gravity - say 1040 -1050. Aim for a boil volume of (for example) 30 L. Take an SG and calculate your preboil efficiency.
Boil for 60 minutes and calculate your boil-off rate.
Take an OG and calculate your total efficiency. Now use these figures to develop your next recipe and adjust as you go/change things in your brewery. If you find one factor is too high/low (efficiency/boil-off/whatever) then you can work on sorting out that factor. At the moment it seems like you're trying to work out too many things while flying by the seat of your pants. Easy enough to do - I've done it myself a million times.
However roll back to basic principles and work from the ground up. Once you've got a bearing on how you system works, you can tweak it to make it work better.
There's no point setting 75 % efficiency if you're not getting 75 %. There's no point (as you now know) setting a boil off rate at 28% if you're only getting 10. Use the figures you actually achieve, know your system and I think these problems will become insignificant or at least potentially solvable.
I would go back to basics - first brew a simple recipe of average gravity - say 1040 -1050. Aim for a boil volume of (for example) 30 L. Take an SG and calculate your preboil efficiency.
Boil for 60 minutes and calculate your boil-off rate.
Take an OG and calculate your total efficiency. Now use these figures to develop your next recipe and adjust as you go/change things in your brewery. If you find one factor is too high/low (efficiency/boil-off/whatever) then you can work on sorting out that factor. At the moment it seems like you're trying to work out too many things while flying by the seat of your pants. Easy enough to do - I've done it myself a million times.
However roll back to basic principles and work from the ground up. Once you've got a bearing on how you system works, you can tweak it to make it work better.
There's no point setting 75 % efficiency if you're not getting 75 %. There's no point (as you now know) setting a boil off rate at 28% if you're only getting 10. Use the figures you actually achieve, know your system and I think these problems will become insignificant or at least potentially solvable.
Advice taken, cheers folks its hard sometimes to look at things in black and white!
I've thought the process through and taken into account the results of todays brew.
wish me luck with my next one!
np1962
It's all about the Beer
bum
Not entitled to an opinion
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Now that I see it quoted it my post looks kinda condescending. I don't mean it that way, scrumpy. I know what it is it like to have problems you can't quite get your head around and I reckon if you see someone else do it the penny will drop really quick. It seems an elegant (potential) solution to the problem to me - rather than you taking stabs in the dark over a series of brews.
Best of luck with it either way, fella.
[EDIT - my typing fingers appear to be drunk.]
Best of luck with it either way, fella.
[EDIT - my typing fingers appear to be drunk.]
Scrumpy, look at your Beersmith Brewsheet, it's in black and white :lol:
Like where it says to sparge with xL of sparge water.... see below. Fly sparge using this amount and collect this amount. Your volumes and gravities should be near to what Beersmith predicts. A tip - set your boiloff to 10% until you have a better idea from practice what it is. Measure preboil volume, boil and then measure post boil volume.
Screwy
AndrewQLD
RED ON WHITE IPA
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Yeah, listen to Screwy, follow the instructions on the brew sheet exactly, BeerSmith is designed to take the guess work out of your brew day, as long as you have setup your equipment profile correctly you can't go wrong if you follow the brew sheet to the letter.
Andrew
Andrew
