How Much Wort From 50l Pot

[Mantis]

I am getting sick of bottling and even though its only 6-8 bottles per brew with the rest in the keg.
I am wondering if I can manage 36L of finished wort out of my pot so I can fill 2 kegs neatly.

Planning to up the grain bill to about 8-9kg and mash in the bag with 37L water. After 90min mash, pull bag and put it in a bucket, then pour 12L (biggest other pot I have) of 90C water over it and mash out for 10mins. Lift bag again and give good squeeze, and I should have about 43L of preboil wort.

9% boil loss and 3L to trub should leave about 36L

Will this work or am I hoping for too much

 

[raven19]

I think you should be fine. I do double batches in a 50L esky - BUT I fly sparge to get that, with a grain bill of up to 13kg, maybe just do 2 or 3 batch sparge rinses?

 

[drsmurto]

I just finished brewing and got 40L of TTL out of a 50L kettle using a concentrated boil.

 

[Mantis]

I just finished brewing and got 40L of TTL out of a 50L kettle using a concentrated boil.

Sounds good. What was your pre boil volume ?

 

[Julez]

I am getting sick of bottling and even though its only 6-8 bottles per brew with the rest in the keg.
I am wondering if I can manage 36L of finished wort out of my pot so I can fill 2 kegs neatly.

Planning to up the grain bill to about 8-9kg and mash in the bag with 37L water. After 90min mash, pull bag and put it in a bucket, then pour 12L (biggest other pot I have) of 90C water over it and mash out for 10mins. Lift bag again and give good squeeze, and I should have about 43L of preboil wort.

9% boil loss and 3L to trub should leave about 36L

Will this work or am I hoping for too much

Hi Mantis

How long do you boil for? I use a 50L pot and lose 5.8L/hr to evap, with a relatively modest rolling boil, which works out about 9L for a 90 minute boil. According to your figures you are only looking at boiling off 4L to evap. Is that correct? I'm assuming you must have a bigger than 50L pot to boil that much liquid, or does that squeeze in ok?

edit: d'oh, didn't read the topic properly :wacko: Dr Smurto's approach would be best then...

Julez.

 

[Mantis]

Thats a lot of boil off you get. I dont get that much so must be different pots/burners etc.

It will be trial and error tommorow I think.

Havent done the sparge thing before so hoping this not only gives me more wort but better efficiency as well.
I will probably scold myself somewhere along the process

 

[Tony]

I use a smaller 50 liter kettleand make 28 liters into the cube with lots of room to spare.

I fill it to the 2nd ring on a 50 liter tooheys kettle and get about 5 or 6L/hr boil off.

If you are filling it close to the top you just have to make sure you brink it to the boil slooooooooooowly so it doesnt boil over.

other than that you should do it easy mate.

All you need then is a mash tun

cheers

 

[Mantis]

I use a smaller 50 liter kettleand make 28 liters into the cube with lots of room to spare.

I fill it to the 2nd ring on a 50 liter tooheys kettle and get about 5 or 6L/hr boil off.

If you are filling it close to the top you just have to make sure you brink it to the boil slooooooooooowly so it doesnt boil over.

other than that you should do it easy mate.

All you need then is a mash tun

cheers

Yeah, I was thinking about the boil and starting with only a few litres of spare in the kettle I will take it gently.

Haha, I have actually been considering a mash tun (dont tell anyone ok). Well my bag had nearly had its day having done 35 brews.

Depending on how well the batch sparge in the bucket goes will make up my mind.

 

[Sammus]

lol here I am nearly boiling over every time with 34L preboil for a 25L final volume. I reckon if you went super gentle and didnt boil it very hard you could pull it off, would be a pita though i reckon...

 

[Mantis]

I have been doing about the same with a 35L preboil for 25-6L batch. But only once has it looked like boiling over with wheat beer. The pales and ambers have been very well behaved

Hey, if it all f&&ks up I will take pics so you all can get a laugh :lol:

 

[bradsbrew]

I have found scooping the foam off the top as it builds up heat has helped with boil overs when I have maxed out the 50L kettle. That and the spray bottle.

Brad

Edit =35L is the regular size I finish with but i have pushed it to 38L

 

[Mantis]

45L in the kettle pre boil and I am nervous :blink:

 

[Mantis]

Well it all ended well with no boil overs. Finished at the 40L mark on the pot but not sure if I got 18L in each cube.
My effeciency went from 63% which I have been getting to 68% and the OG 1053. So I could water it down in the fermenters and still get good strength beer.

Pretty happy with how it all went but a bigger than 20L bucket for the sparge would be good.

:icon_chickcheers:

 

[Julez]

Well it all ended well with no boil overs. Finished at the 40L mark on the pot but not sure if I got 18L in each cube.
My effeciency went from 63% which I have been getting to 68% and the OG 1053. So I could water it down in the fermenters and still get good strength beer.

Pretty happy with how it all went but a bigger than 20L bucket for the sparge would be good.

:icon_chickcheers:

Sounds like you nailed it, if your trub is normally 3L then you can't be far off.

Nice work!

 

[drsmurto]

Sounds good. What was your pre boil volume ?

41L pre-boil, ~10L of boiling water added at flameout for 40L post-boil.

 

[Mantis]

41L pre-boil, ~10L of boiling water added at flameout for 40L post-boil.

Ahhh ok, now I understand.


Thanks Julez, I am happy yes. Now its time to replace our sink mixer as the old one is leaking. This job might not have such a happy outcome. :lol:

 

[gjhansford]

I only have a 36 litre kettle ... yes I know I was told to buy a bigger one but it was too late ... I'd already placed the order for the 36 with Grain & Grape and they were getting it drilled for the tap so I didn't have the courage to change my order and upgrade).

But I have had success with making double brews (40lts in one or 2 fermenters for 2 kegs) using the following strategy (admitedly it's a partial):

Mash 5.2kg grain for 45 minutes with 15 litres of water and run off about 10lrs at a brix of 18-20.
Bring it to a boil while adding 10 litres back into the mash for a second 45 minutes.
Second runnings, plus a 10 litre sparge gives me about 28 litres (which is okay in the 36 litre kettle if I watch it) at about a brix of 14-15.
Do a normal boil with the hops (doubled for the 2 brews) adding the required amount of either DME or LME in the last 15 minutes to give me about 24 litres at a brix of 18-20.
Transfer into the two kegs and top up with water to give me two 20 litre brews at a brix of about 12-13 (1.048-1.050).

Advantages: The 40 minute boil of the first runnings adds a caramel enhancement to the brews which compensates for the watering down and I get a second keg for the cost of a bit of DME or LME (Amount varies depending on the kettle brix reading but usually only about 1.5kg). Also ... I have the option of using two different yeasts to make two different beers from the same ingredients.

It's a great work around for me when I need to fill those empty kegs!

 

[mje1980]

I boil in a 50 litre keggle, and boil 45 litres. I always fill a 17litre cube ( 15ltr ), and a 20ltr ( 17ltr ) cube, or easily 2 17ltr cubes. I FWH a lot, which seems to reduce the boil over problem. Though, if you have water spray handy, its no drama.

 

[Mantis]

Yeah, I FWH all my brews and for the 45min and 5min additions I put the pellets in a few at a time over a couple of mins.
I also skimmed the froth off the top while it was coming to the boil.

Oh, and I did have the spray bottle handy

 

[Stubbie]

I use a keggle and consistently get 40 to 42L - depending on whether I'm using pellets or plugs/flowers. A preboil in the low 40's and a top up about 5 min or thereaobuts before flameout works for me. And thats using an immersion chiller made from a 17m copper coil.

Some malts seem to be more predisposed to boilovers. As much as I'm happy to use them, I just find JW malts, ale or pils, to be wicked boilover specials. In my own experience, that stuff needs to be watched like a hawke or suffer a boilover eruption. I've had fewer near misses with Wey Pils or Bairds / Simpsons MO. Perhaps it's a coincidence, but I suspect not.

Today's weizen using Powells pils / Wey wheat had a preboil of about 45L (collected 42L) and I didnt spill a drop.

Stubbie