My first AG - a problem with volumes.....

[hambrook]

[youtube]http://youtu.be/7b7SJ7gYe9Y[/youtube]
Skip the video to 11 mins if you want to skip to where I start brewing

So yesterday I did my first All Grain Brew, it went really well until the last 30 minutes. First up the positives;
- Nothing leaked!
- The whirlpool chiller worked great
- The beer ended up clear and in the FV

The challenges:
- I disconnected the pipe from the Solar Pump so I could drain the wort into the FV; I put the pump in the pan full of ice. A few minutes later I realised that the pan was full of beer and that at least 5 litres had syphoned into the pan!
- I only ended up with 12.5L of beer ; lets call it 18L due to the user error, but it's 7L short of the required 23L recipe I had used. I used the Graham Wheeler recipe which called for 33L of liquid; 11.8L for the mash and the rest for sparge. I actually made this up to 35 litres as I know the Buffalo boiler cannot drain the last couple of litres due to the height of the tap on the side wall.
- I guess I should have added on another 2 litres for the Wort Buffalo Boiler and probably another 1.5L for the bottom of the mash-tun.
- No sight glass or internal markings on the buffalo made guessing volumes very tricky - I have ordered a pair of 600mm Steel Rules to make my own up!

Questions:
- Whats the best way to calculate all this wasted volume to arrive at 23L?
- How much fluid do i loose in a 90 minute rolling boil?
- What Quick Disconnects do you advise? Undoing and redoing Jubilee Clips got tiresome. I see lots of different types but am not sure what to use for 1/2" Silicone pipe and my set-up?

I would welcome any other suggestions / improvements. I have enough grain to give this recipe another go

[Padalac]

Firstly I was impressed with how thorough you were! Very precise.

To work out volumes and stuff (and a lot of other aspects) I'd recommend beersmith (software). It's only £20 and it helps you work all this stuff out. Makes it much easier to create your recipes, scale them up and down etc etc

I doubt I've ever got my volumes exactly right, but I'm more concerned with getting the right OG and IBU - then at least its the right recipe. I think a lot of it comes down to experience and knowing that for example a double ipa will lose a few litres of beer to hop matter.

[Padalac]

One other point. I don't know what others think but I think you are delaying the yeast pitch unnecessarily. I would get the chilled wort into the FV as quick as possible because you are not in a sealed system and any time you have those buckets open you are letting dust fall in from the air. I personally cover the boiler with foil while the chilling is in progress because I chill down to 17 and I don't want the wort sitting there lukewarm for 20 minutes and who knows what falling into it from the air.

Seriously don't be alarmed - you probably won't get an infection and I'm sure it will turn out fine, but if it was me I'd try and pitch earlier in general.

Also, I personally chill down to 17c and pitch at a lower temp - 30 degrees is a bit too high in my opinion. How do you pitch the yeast - do you rehydrate?

[Dave S]

Are you allowing for the water that is retained by the grains in the MT? The grain typically retains 1.1 litre of water per kg of grain. That would certainly explain the shortcoming in your brew length. As far as boil off is concerned, if your buffalo is the 40 litre model as mine is, you'll lose around 4.5 litres over a 90 minute rolling boil. Don't make the mistake of thinking in terms of percentages. It's 4.5 litres no matter what volume is in there. The boil-off will vary slightly depending on whether the lid is on, off, partly on etc. but not by very much. At the end of the day you should boil up some water and see what's left after say an hour.

[Jim]

(ok why is that not displaying my video?)

It's because you used a time offset in the URL - the forum code only works if you use the 'watch' page URL.

[hambrook]

(ok why is that not displaying my video?)

It's because you used a time offset in the URL - the forum code only works if you use the 'watch' page URL.

Hi Jim - I've removed the time stamp and it still not embedding ...?

[hambrook]

Are you allowing for the water that is retained by the grains in the MT? The grain typically retains 1.1 litre of water per kg of grain. That would certainly explain the shortcoming in your brew length. As far as boil off is concerned, if your buffalo is the 40 litre model as mine is, you'll lose around 4.5 litres over a 90 minute rolling boil. Don't make the mistake of thinking in terms of percentages. It's 4.5 litres no matter what volume is in there. The boil-off will vary slightly depending on whether the lid is on, off, partly on etc. but not by very much. At the end of the day you should boil up some water and see what's left after say an hour.

TBH I just followed the recipe which called for 33 total litres which I uplifted to 35 litres in the HLT. The mash water volume was 11.8L so I put just under the 12L mark in the Rubbermaid. Pre-Boil Gravity was 1051 and the Post Boil Gravity (OG) was 1060; both readings taken at 20 degrees.

[lord groan]

i can't see which recipe you are using, might just be my eyesight tho!. What does the GW recipe say to expect the FG to be - is it 1060 like you got or should it be higher or lower? I ask because I've had low volume in my recipes from time time time but the FG was higher because I'd actually boiled off more water than expected. Topping back up to the required volume dropped the fg to the figure in the book.
Have you just evaporated too much water?

[Jim]

(ok why is that not displaying my video?)

It's because you used a time offset in the URL - the forum code only works if you use the 'watch' page URL.

Hi Jim - I've removed the time stamp and it still not embedding ...?

Here you go: -

[london_lhr]

Regarding your question about quick disconnect fittings I think the fittings most used are the 1/2" Camlock fittings.

http://www.angelhomebrew.co.uk/en/12-camlock-fittings

There are quite a few calculators and different brewing software packages around. Some are free and some are paid for.
Beersmith mentioned is a very good paid for package.


Barry.

[Fil]

using the kit will give you the sort of difference in volume you need between your initial preboil volume and your final target volume.

i use dipsticks in the mango barrel boiler i used a SS tube with a few orings around it. and i could fill the boiler hlt with the target volume(taking hop absprption deadspace etc into account, and mark the level with an oring and then i could fill to preboil volume and mark a second level with an oring, before topping up to the full brew volume to heat up, then come the brew i could sparge till the preboil oring marker and boil off to the lower oring marker

in the 98l SS pots well a SS ruler makes a fairly accurate dipstick with 1cm being basically 2l
tho used only for a quick dip i dont trust the ink to stay on the Stainless steel if exposed to prelonged periods in the acidic boil..

[hambrook]

To work out volumes and stuff (and a lot of other aspects) I'd recommend beersmith (software). It's only £20 and it helps you work all this stuff out. Makes it much easier to create your recipes, scale them up and down etc etc

Beersmith is for Windows which I have not been on for a few years and they don't have a Mac version. I see they have a £5.99 iPhone / iPad version buy does that have the same functionality?....
[UPDATE]yes they do have a mac version!

[hambrook]

Regarding your question about quick disconnect fittings I think the fittings most used are the 1/2" Camlock fittings.

http://www.angelhomebrew.co.uk/en/12-camlock-fittings

There are quite a few calculators and different brewing software packages around. Some are free and some are paid for.
Beersmith mentioned is a very good paid for package.

Barry.

I've bene looking at 1/2" Camlock fittings but whats the difference between the types and why would choose one type vs another?

[BenB]

The beersmith mobile version is good but it doesn't have the full functionality is the pc version. I use them in tandem. On the Brew day i use the mobile version ona tablet for the recipe and timer but use the PC version otherwise. To measure volume i measure the head space usinga stainless adjustable square or whatever they're called. I sit it on top of the hlt or boiler, extend the ruler bit until it just creates a meniscus on the surface then read off the value and consult my chart (I also builta little javascript calculator hosted on our NAS which does the calcs).

[Padalac]

the mac version of beersmith 2 is great.. i'm using it on mac myself