Losses In The Kettle

[Mercs Own]

vlbaby I am going to need to see the maths!

Wortgames in the B3 system 1.4 inches equals a gallon.

1.4 inches = 3.55
3.55/3.79 = .94

42 litres in the kettle measured 35.2 on my stick??? which equates to .83

Might open the other Pumpkin Ale.

 

[Wortgames]

OK, lets try this:

1 US gallon = 3.79 litres

1 inch = 2.54cm

So if 1.4 inches = 1 US gallon

then 3.56cm = 3.79 litres

and 1cm = 1.06 litres

and 0.94cm = 1 litre


My head hurts, I need a beer.


Something peachy perhaps...

:super:

 

[sosman]

FWIW I get the same as vlbaby, 0.94 litre/cm.

Also, after you turn the burner off you are not going to get massive evaporation. Cooling from boiling will reduce the volume by about 4% due to contraction.

 

[Mercs Own]

Yep - Thats it .94

Going back and redoing my calculations based on .94 = 1 litre I have therefore : pre boil vol 43.5
post boil 38.2
less losses of about 5 litres

puts about 33 litres into the fermenter!!!!!!! :super:

Might just have a beer to celebrate!

Thanks guys!

 

[delboy]

seems that after reading reading reading mercs that everybody is hinting for some of your peachy ale ???

delboy

 

[Mercs Own]

Thanks for the not so subtle hint Delboy! I may have a proposition coming up.

Wortgames I am not so sure you should have removed your maths calcs as it helped to make me seem at least as smart as you for a while! lol

 

[Wortgames]

Conical fermenters are supposed to be square, right?

:unsure:

 

[Darren]

Heya,
I would suggest removing the lid until you get to boil. This will allow most of the volatiles to burn off (DMS) etc. Then place the lid back on until the end of boil. Alternatively, cut a hole in the lid as Steve said.
cheers
Darren

 

[Guest Lurker]

I dont understand why a large evaporation loss is bad, unless you are limited by the initial volume your kettle can hold? In which case you could add water during the boil. High evaporation means you can sparge a larger volume and get a higher overall efficiency. For high gravity beers especially that really saves leaving too much in the grain, surely?

 

[Darren]

Just reading the whole thread. You paid how much for a system that makes 30 or so litres of beer! I was under the presumption that those systems made 50+ litres. Guess yo already know you need to upgarde to a larger system 8)
cheers
Darren

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

I am with you Guest. I batch sparge and takes 3 runnings to get to the 30ltr mark from 5 kg of grain. I could do it in 2 runnings but 3 seems to work for me, and I know that there is still a bit left in the grain, but not worth the hassle of extra boiling to get the efficiency.

 

[Mercs Own]

Darren the lack of quantity of beer is actually due to my inability and inexperience. I hope soon to be making regular 38 litre batches. The good thing so far is my efficiency is running at an average of 78% which means even at 33 litre batches I am gettng my moneys worth.

Hopefully soon I will even make some good beer!

Guest Lurker I can t answer your question other than saying I want it in the fermenter not in the air.

 

[Darren]

Lid and beware of volatiles

 

[Ross]

Heya,
I would suggest removing the lid until you get to boil. This will allow most of the volatiles to burn off (DMS) etc. Then place the lid back on until the end of boil. Alternatively, cut a hole in the lid as Steve said.
cheers
Darren

[post="86900"][/post]​

i wouldn't have thought putting the lid on once you get to the boil was a good idea at all - I thought plenty of nasty's were boiled off during the boil, not just on the way upto the boil!! Also very hard to stop boil overs with a vigorous boil & a closed lid. Just accept the loses & adjust your volumes accordingly.
I'm pretty sure some of the high losses mentioned here are just a case of miscalculations, I only get a 13% boil loss from a very hard 90 min boil...

 

[Ross]

Heya,
I would suggest removing the lid until you get to boil. This will allow most of the volatiles to burn off (DMS) etc. Then place the lid back on until the end of boil. Alternatively, cut a hole in the lid as Steve said.
cheers
Darren

[post="86900"][/post]​

i wouldn't have thought putting the lid on once you get to the boil was a good idea at all - I thought plenty of nasty's were boiled off during the boil, not just on the way upto the boil!! Also very hard to stop boil overs with a vigorous boil & a closed lid. Just accept the loses & adjust your volumes accordingly.
I'm pretty sure some of the high losses mentioned here are just a case of miscalculations, I only get a 13% boil loss from a very hard 90 min boil...

 

[shmick]

Hi Mercs

Have you done the calcs on pre & post boil Specific Gravity?

This would pretty quickly tell you if are losing it to evaporation or trub/system losses. Try playing with the Boil Off tool and/or the equipment profile in Beersmith.
Set up a dummy equipment profile (so you don't mess up your actual settings) and tweak the numbers until it reflects what's actually happening.

The only drama I've had with Beersmith using this method is that changes to the equipment setting doesn't flow thru to the recipe if the recipe was created/saved first. This kind of makes sense though otherwise every old recipe you open would get altered.
I usually tweak the numbers then re-enter the recipe and all is well.

Doing a one-off set of full sytem measurements/calibration is a worthwhile chore if only for peace of mind :chug:

 

[Darren]

Heya,
I would suggest removing the lid until you get to boil. This will allow most of the volatiles to burn off (DMS) etc. Then place the lid back on until the end of boil. Alternatively, cut a hole in the lid as Steve said.
cheers
Darren

[post="86900"][/post]​

i wouldn't have thought putting the lid on once you get to the boil was a good idea at all - I thought plenty of nasty's were boiled off during the boil, not just on the way upto the boil!! Also very hard to stop boil overs with a vigorous boil & a closed lid. Just accept the loses & adjust your volumes accordingly.
I'm pretty sure some of the high losses mentioned here are just a case of miscalculations, I only get a 13% boil loss from a very hard 90 min boil...

[post="87002"][/post]​

I usually put my lid on after the boil has gotten started. Mind you my lid has a hole in the middle that allows volatiles to escape. No need to run the kettle fully open for the entire boil though unless you like to waste energy