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Author Topic: Smaller All Grain Batches  (Read 5554 times)

Offline flbrewer

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Re: Smaller All Grain Batches
« Reply #45 on: February 03, 2015, 09:01:55 am »

Are there any significant issues with doing smaller batches on larger equipment? By large I mean a 10 gallon BK and 10 gallon MT.
I can't speak personally to the mash tun, but the bigger kettle will likely have a faster boiloff rate.
And any deadspace in your equipment will hold a larger percentage of fermentables.

What do you mean?

Offline Jimmy K

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Re: Smaller All Grain Batches
« Reply #46 on: February 03, 2015, 09:28:37 am »
If your equipment is designed so it always leaves a liquid in the mash tun or kettle (lets say a quart). That quart is 1/20th of 5 gallons so it will contain 1/20th of the fermentables from the wort. If you switched to a 2.5 gallon batch, that quart could be 1/10th of the fermentables. You can make up for this by increasing the grain bill.
 
It mostly applies to kettles with a ball valve where you can't drain all the liquid. Less so to batch sparging in a mash tun, not really at all to fly sparging.
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