Percentage lost to boil

[Jerry Cornelius]

Done a brew yesterday (GW's Young's Special). Thanks to a few tips on here, I finally managed to do a brew without a stuck sparge!

Got 32 L into the kettle. Boiled it up with both elements for 90 mins (4.4 KW). We had the family around for Sunday lunch so I didn't keep an eye on it... Ended up with 21 L in the kettle (19 L in the FV). and an OG of 1.051 when I was aiming for 1.042, so I added 2.53 L to bring it down to what I really wanted.

The questions are these:-

- Is it better to boil at full vigour for 90 mins
- Only use one element
- Reduce the boil time to 60 mins.
- Doesn't matter, just add water to adjust at the end?

[Jerry Cornelius]

Cheers Chris.

One thing that bothers me is, if I top up with water, I don't have to worry about any treatment (apart from Campden tablets) do I?

Am I right in thinking that the CRS and Gypsum that I've added is for the mash, and after that it doesn't matter anyway? - much like doing a kit beer, all the treatments necessary have been done already?

Up until yesterday I've always just used one element, so I'll be doing that in future!

[Jerry Cornelius]

No, ideally it would be with fully treated water to remove chlorine and adjusted to the correct alkalinity. In practice a couple of litres wont be too detrimental to the finished beer as long as it has been dechlorinated.

Thanks Chris. I think I'll make up a few extra L of treated water from now on, just in case I need it.