Membership questions? Log in issues? Email info@brewersassociation.org

Author Topic: Sparge Water Volumes  (Read 3089 times)

Offline flbrewer

  • Brewmaster General
  • *******
  • Posts: 2161
Re: Sparge Water Volumes
« Reply #15 on: January 10, 2015, 03:20:10 pm »
Just to add some context here...as I mentioned in another thread I may do a half batch of this recipe...

Ingredients for 6 U.S. gallons (22.71 L)
 
10.0 lb (4.5 kg) pale two-row malt
12.0 oz (340 g) 20° L crystal
8.0 oz (227 g) 80° L crystal malt malt
8.0 oz (227 g) CaraVienne® malt
8.0 oz (227 g) wheat malt

(shortened for context...)
 
I got the strike/sparge volumes from this calculator by simply plugging in the 3 gallons final volume and 6.125 pounds of grain.
http://www.brew365.com/mash_sparge_water_calculator.php

Am I in the ballpark here? Coming from extract it's odd to not hear exact gallon measurements with recipes  ;D


« Last Edit: January 10, 2015, 03:41:32 pm by flbrewer »

Offline HoosierBrew

  • I must live here
  • **********
  • Posts: 13031
  • Indianapolis,IN
Re: Sparge Water Volumes
« Reply #16 on: January 10, 2015, 04:17:02 pm »
flbrewer - In all the first AG batch excitement, remember to figure out your grain absorption and dead space in your cooler, assuming you haven't already. If your dead space is 1/2 gallon, then you'd be that amount shy on your volumes (and off on OG). Remember to have fun, it's a lot easier than you think !
« Last Edit: January 10, 2015, 04:18:35 pm by HoosierBrew »
Jon H.

Offline flbrewer

  • Brewmaster General
  • *******
  • Posts: 2161
Re: Sparge Water Volumes
« Reply #17 on: January 10, 2015, 04:20:19 pm »
flbrewer - In all the first AG batch excitement, remember to figure out your grain absorption and dead space in your cooler, assuming you haven't already. If your dead space is 1/2 gallon, then you'd be that amount shy on your volumes (and off on OG). Remember to have fun, it's a lot easier than you think !

Thanks for the reminder...I do see that's on the calculator. I'm going to do some water measurements first off and ensure I've got the right figures going into it.

Offline jeffy

  • Official Poobah of No Life. (I Got Ban Hammered by Drew)
  • *********
  • Posts: 4222
  • Tampa, Fl
Re: Sparge Water Volumes
« Reply #18 on: January 10, 2015, 05:31:50 pm »
I just stop collecting runoff when I reach the proper volume in the kettle.

Jeff, that's what I've gotten in trouble with in the past. Apparently with my new system, I can now deplete my grist of sugars well before I've reached my desired kettle volume. But, I'm still getting 88 to 92% efficiency.

I'm going to switch to more closely monitoring my runoff gravity and reserving about a gallon of the calculated sparging volume. I'll only add more water to the tun if the runoff is plenty high. That remaining sparging volume will be added directly to the kettle to reach my desired pre-boil volume from now on. We'll see how this approach works out since I've been experiencing low level tannins in my beers with my new system and I have to do something different.

Martin, your system is more efficient than mine. I end up leaving more sugars in the mash tun and don't fret too much about late runnings.
It has only been recently that I've been trying to calculate the sparge water more efficiently.  I still stop sparging when I reach pre boil kettle volume, but I sparge more slowly and try not to waste any water.
Jeff Gladish, Tampa (989.3, 175.1 Apparent Rennarian)
Homebrewing since 1990
AHA member since 1991, now a lifetime member
BJCP judge since 1995

Offline flbrewer

  • Brewmaster General
  • *******
  • Posts: 2161
Re: Sparge Water Volumes
« Reply #19 on: January 10, 2015, 06:12:39 pm »
So you are slowly emptying your MT, checking the volume in the boil kettle until you reach your desired volume? Regardless of what quantity of sparge water you thought you needed? How often are you leaving excess water in the MT? How often are you short?

Offline duboman

  • Senior Brewmaster
  • ******
  • Posts: 1578
Re: Sparge Water Volumes
« Reply #20 on: January 10, 2015, 07:44:08 pm »
I found the beat thing to do is do a batch of water. Add a fixed amount of water to your MT and drain, measure what you have left- that's a loss.

Fill your kettle with preboil volume of water, boil 60 minutes where you will actually brew. Measure what you empty into primary-this is your boil off rate

Measure what's left in the kettle, that's your kettle loss. Plus maybe a bit for grub.

From your previous experiences you should already know what your grub loss is after fermentation and proper batch size.

Add your losses into you calculations so you get the finished volume you want to package.
Peace....Love......Beer......

The Commune Brewing Company-Perfecting the craft of beer since 2010

Offline HoosierBrew

  • I must live here
  • **********
  • Posts: 13031
  • Indianapolis,IN
Re: Sparge Water Volumes
« Reply #21 on: January 10, 2015, 07:52:11 pm »
I found the beat thing to do is do a batch of water. Add a fixed amount of water to your MT and drain, measure what you have left- that's a loss.

Fill your kettle with preboil volume of water, boil 60 minutes where you will actually brew. Measure what you empty into primary-this is your boil off rate

Measure what's left in the kettle, that's your kettle loss. Plus maybe a bit for grub.

From your previous experiences you should already know what your grub loss is after fermentation and proper batch size.

Add your losses into you calculations so you get the finished volume you want to package.

Yep. I started with a 10 gallon Gott with a false bottom and lost ~ 1/2 gallon under the false bottom IIRC. Been a long time on that one. +1 to learning boil off rate, too.
Jon H.

Offline Wort-H.O.G.

  • Official Poobah of No Life. (I Got Ban Hammered by Drew)
  • *********
  • Posts: 4439
  • Play Nice
    • Harvey's Brewhaus
Re: Sparge Water Volumes
« Reply #22 on: January 10, 2015, 09:16:21 pm »
So you are slowly emptying your MT, checking the volume in the boil kettle until you reach your desired volume? Regardless of what quantity of sparge water you thought you needed? How often are you leaving excess water in the MT? How often are you short?

exactly. once you know your system, its just default. for me, i use copper manifold on bottom of cooler, so have very little residual dead space (less than quart). i know i can just run till its empty and I have exactly what i target in the kettle.
Ken- Chagrin Falls, OH
CPT, U.S.Army
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Harveys-Brewhaus/405092862905115

http://braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php?title=The_Science_of_Mashing

Serving:        In Process:
Vienna IPA          O'Fest
Dort
Mead                 
Cider                         
Ger'merican Blonde
Amber Ale
Next:
Ger Pils
O'Fest

Offline jeffy

  • Official Poobah of No Life. (I Got Ban Hammered by Drew)
  • *********
  • Posts: 4222
  • Tampa, Fl
Re: Sparge Water Volumes
« Reply #23 on: January 11, 2015, 05:52:41 am »
So you are slowly emptying your MT, checking the volume in the boil kettle until you reach your desired volume? Regardless of what quantity of sparge water you thought you needed? How often are you leaving excess water in the MT? How often are you short?
Until I started to actually calculate sparge water, I always had more than needed.  Lately, while trying to be more efficient and less wasteful by calculating, I've come up a little short.
I guess the lesson is to calculate and add a little more for insurance.
Jeff Gladish, Tampa (989.3, 175.1 Apparent Rennarian)
Homebrewing since 1990
AHA member since 1991, now a lifetime member
BJCP judge since 1995