Silly question i know but i am here to learn. I have just done my first AG brew today , only a 9litre batch. Now the recipe only said to start with 10 litres of water steep grain for 60 min etc and "sparge "grains in 1 litre of water so a total size of 11 litres . It was a 50 min boil. Etc . Now i only ended up with 6 litres at the end. Should i have started with perhaps 15 litres ???
Boil water amount
- Thread starter beno1
- Start date
Help Support Australia & New Zealand Homebrewing Forum:
manticle
Standing up for the Aussie Bottler
Every system is different.
Work out how much water you will evaporate over 1 hour (boil a pot for an hour and measure is one easy way to do this). Work out how much you have lost to trub (gunky debris at the bottom of the pot) and how much you lose to grain absorption (usually around 1-1.1 litres per kilo of grain, calculated once only).
Add the total volume you want and you should have an indication of how much water you need.
Work out how much water you will evaporate over 1 hour (boil a pot for an hour and measure is one easy way to do this). Work out how much you have lost to trub (gunky debris at the bottom of the pot) and how much you lose to grain absorption (usually around 1-1.1 litres per kilo of grain, calculated once only).
Add the total volume you want and you should have an indication of how much water you need.
lukiferj
Self Made Alehouse
Are you using any software. Brewmate is free and easy to use. Gives you all the amounts of water you will need.
TimT
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- 26/9/13
- Messages
- 2,094
- Reaction score
- 587
Hi Beno. I have a pretty basic system - make beer in small quantities and usually just keep an eye on the pot to make sure it doesn't boil too low.
I find about 4 to 4.5 litres will boil away in an hour and ten minutes so I usually add about that amount on top of the volume I want in the end.
Additionally, I keep an eye on the temp with a Fowler's thermometer that I have in the pot continually. I know when the water boils down to a certain mark on the thermometer it will have reached the required volume (so, I use the thermometer not only to measure temperature but help me gauge how far down the height of the pot the wort is - if that makes sense). I usually have to make adjustments for what I put in during the boil too (ie, how many hop bags - once you take the hop bags out, obviously the wort will sink a little lower) and for the fact that when the wort is boiling, it will appear higher than when it is still.
Because I'm used to boiling the wort in this particular pot I know how far down it should go, and can usually get a good idea just by looking at it.
I've found one or two older (pre 20th century) recipes for brewing that advise for the brewer to 'make a mark on the kettle' or 'make a mark on a stick' as a way of gauging the depth of wort in a pot. My system is similar, and it sounds like your system could benefit from a method like this as well.
Happy brewing!
I find about 4 to 4.5 litres will boil away in an hour and ten minutes so I usually add about that amount on top of the volume I want in the end.
Additionally, I keep an eye on the temp with a Fowler's thermometer that I have in the pot continually. I know when the water boils down to a certain mark on the thermometer it will have reached the required volume (so, I use the thermometer not only to measure temperature but help me gauge how far down the height of the pot the wort is - if that makes sense). I usually have to make adjustments for what I put in during the boil too (ie, how many hop bags - once you take the hop bags out, obviously the wort will sink a little lower) and for the fact that when the wort is boiling, it will appear higher than when it is still.
Because I'm used to boiling the wort in this particular pot I know how far down it should go, and can usually get a good idea just by looking at it.
I've found one or two older (pre 20th century) recipes for brewing that advise for the brewer to 'make a mark on the kettle' or 'make a mark on a stick' as a way of gauging the depth of wort in a pot. My system is similar, and it sounds like your system could benefit from a method like this as well.
Happy brewing!
manticle
Standing up for the Aussie Bottler
Software can be helpful but you still need to add/tweak figures based on your system. Brewmate doesn't know if you use a stove, burner or element, wide ss pot, tall aluminium or urn. The more info you provide it, the more accurate its suggestions will be.
