| |
Main
Date: 05 Sep 2006 19:15:42
From: Baron218
Subject: Water loss
|
So I brewed a kolsch ale on Monday (all-grain), and collected about 6.5
gallons of wort. After the boil I had only about 4.25 gallons, and
transfer to the primary yielded 4 gallons at around 1.040, and should
have been at 1.046ish. I didn't bring to 5 or 5.5 because I was afraid
of diluting my brew too much. I'm thinking now of boiling 1 to 1.5
gallons of water, cooling it, and then putting it into the secondary
next week to not only get more brew, but also reduce the amount of dead
space in the secondary 5 gallon carboy.
Any thoughts, is it worth even putting some light malt extract with the
new water to increase the specific gravity?
Thanks,
Mike
|
|
| |
Date: 06 Sep 2006 15:50:40
From: John 'Shaggy' Kolesar
Subject: Re: Water loss
|
On 5 Sep 2006 19:15:42 -0700, <MGarshick@gmail.com > wrote:
> So I brewed a kolsch ale on Monday (all-grain), and collected about 6.5
> gallons of wort. After the boil I had only about 4.25 gallons, and
> transfer to the primary yielded 4 gallons at around 1.040, and should
> have been at 1.046ish. I didn't bring to 5 or 5.5 because I was afraid
> of diluting my brew too much. I'm thinking now of boiling 1 to 1.5
> gallons of water, cooling it, and then putting it into the secondary
> next week to not only get more brew, but also reduce the amount of dead
> space in the secondary 5 gallon carboy.
>
> Any thoughts, is it worth even putting some light malt extract with the
> new water to increase the specific gravity?
This is purely personal perference. However, since you were aiming for
1.046 originally and only reached 1.040, I wouldn't add just water. Sure,
you'll increase your volume but you'll really just be watering down the
beer.
If you wanted to boil some extract with the water and then add that to the
secondary, IMO, that would be a much better way to go. 1 lbs of DME in 1
gallon of water should give you an OG for the new addition of 1.045 or so.
Add that into your existing beer and it should keep the gravity pretty
close to where you started, maybe slightly higher.
If it were me, I'd probably just leave it alone though.
John.
|
| |
Date: 06 Sep 2006 08:26:38
From: The Artist Formerly Known as Kap'n Salty
Subject: Re: Water loss
|
Baron218 wrote:
> So I brewed a kolsch ale on Monday (all-grain), and collected about 6.5
> gallons of wort. After the boil I had only about 4.25 gallons, and
> transfer to the primary yielded 4 gallons at around 1.040, and should
> have been at 1.046ish. I didn't bring to 5 or 5.5 because I was afraid
> of diluting my brew too much. I'm thinking now of boiling 1 to 1.5
> gallons of water, cooling it, and then putting it into the secondary
> next week to not only get more brew, but also reduce the amount of dead
> space in the secondary 5 gallon carboy.
>
> Any thoughts, is it worth even putting some light malt extract with the
> new water to increase the specific gravity?
If you add malt extract to the water, I'd add it to the primary.
Note that if you add 1 gallon undiluted plain water to your 4 gallons at
1.040 , you will give your beer an effective starting gravity of 1.032,
which is probably not what you want. Add 1.5 gallons and you'll end up
with around 1.029.
If you decide to add wort, you might want to hop it a bit as well in
order to avoid diluting the bitterness of the beer.
You didn't mention how long your boil was, but water losses during the
boil can be significant -- I lose around 1.5 gals an hour with a big
rolling boil. You might also want to try and figure your efficiency for
future AG batches.
Hope that helps -- m
--
(Replies: cleanse my address of the Mark of the Beast!)
Teleoperate a roving mobile robot from the web:
http://www.swampgas.com/robotics/rover.html
Coauthor with Dennis Clark of "Building Robot Drive Trains".
Buy several copies today!
|
| |
Date: 07 Sep 2006 06:45:05
From: David M. Taylor
Subject: Re: Water loss
|
"Baron218" <MGarshick@gmail.com > wrote in message
news:1157508942.710399.256050@m79g2000cwm.googlegroups.com...
> So I brewed a kolsch ale on Monday (all-grain), and collected about 6.5
> gallons of wort. After the boil I had only about 4.25 gallons, and
> transfer to the primary yielded 4 gallons at around 1.040, and should
> have been at 1.046ish. I didn't bring to 5 or 5.5 because I was afraid
> of diluting my brew too much. I'm thinking now of boiling 1 to 1.5
> gallons of water, cooling it, and then putting it into the secondary
> next week to not only get more brew, but also reduce the amount of dead
> space in the secondary 5 gallon carboy.
This might be on obvious point, but did you correct your specific gravity
for temperature? If the wort was at all hot when you made the specific
gravity measurement, it could have been way low, and you might have actually
been in the 1.050s. Just checking to be sure. Otherwise, conversion must
not have been complete, or who knows what else.
--
Dave
"Just a drink, a little drink, and I'll be feeling GOOooOOooOOooD!" --
Genesis, 1973-ish
|
| |
Date: 07 Sep 2006 12:23:06
From: Scotty B
Subject: Re: Water loss
|
The Artist Formerly Known as Kap'n Salty wrote:
> You didn't mention how long your boil was, but water losses during the
> boil can be significant -- I lose around 1.5 gals an hour with a big
> rolling boil. You might also want to try and figure your efficiency for
> future AG batches.
Are there any rules against putting a lid on your kettle to help
minimize this water loss?
Scotty B
|
| | |
Date: 07 Sep 2006 19:37:03
From: John 'Shaggy' Kolesar
Subject: Re: Water loss
|
On 7 Sep 2006 12:23:06 -0700, <michaellasalle@gmail.com > wrote:
>
> The Artist Formerly Known as Kap'n Salty wrote:
>> You didn't mention how long your boil was, but water losses during the
>> boil can be significant -- I lose around 1.5 gals an hour with a big
>> rolling boil. You might also want to try and figure your efficiency for
>> future AG batches.
>
> Are there any rules against putting a lid on your kettle to help
> minimize this water loss?
Boiling with a lid on will trap things in the wort that are supposed to
be boiled off (DMS). IMO, it's better to take the water loss into account
and boil without a lid.
John.
|
|
