The process

[PaulStat]

Right after reading this forum for a few weeks I believe I have a basic understanding of the overall process

I'm assuming a 5G brew, and the batch sparging method

1. Choose my recipe and get the correct quantity of ingredients
2. Heat up 27L of water in my *potential* 27L Burco boiler to about 72C
3. Prior to all of this calculate quantities of water needed to do batch sparging with my 30L mash tun cool box
4. Add the hot water to the mash tun and stir in the grain, leave to sit for 90 mins making sure the temp stays around 66C.
5. In the meantime heat up the remainder of the water in boiler to 72C, topping up as necessary to account for evaporation.
6. Run off some of the wort in the mash tun and stir back in, this helps to filter out the crap?
7. Now take a measurement of the SG and run off the remainder into the HLT (I was thinking of using my fermenting bin as the vessel).
8. Pour the remainder of the hot water into the mash tun and give a good stir, how long should I keep this in the mash tun?
9. Run off the remainder into the HLT.
10. Transfer this into the boiler and boil for 90 mins. This is the bit I'm worried about if I plan on doing a 5G brew and my boiler is 27L (just below 6G). Won't the total amount of wort produced be less than 5G afterwards due to evaporation? I could top the water up but I'm guessing that would make it too diluted?
11. For the last 10 mins of the boil put the IC in the boiler to sanitise it. I presume I have to make sure the copper doesn't touch the element at the bottom? Could be a bit of a shock

12. Turn off the boiler and turn the tap on for the IC, bring the wort down to 24C
13. Transfer the wort to the FV and pitch the yeast. Here's a question for you, would a 5G FV be enough here, or should I really be considering getting myself a 10G one?
14. Leave fermenting for a week or until the FG is the same on two consecutive days.
15. Bottle/Keg, leave for as long as possible.
16. Drink!

I do have a question about transferring as well, at which stages do I want to aerate, and which stages do I want to avoid aerating it?

[ade1865]

Heat up 27L of water in my *potential* 27L Burco boiler to about 72C

I found that around 80C worked for me, not sure why tho. Essentially as far as i understand it, if the mash is too hot its easier to bring it down than it would be to heat up a cold mash. All to do with temperature difference between mash and additional water i think. I heat my sparge water to 80C as well.

6. Run off some of the wort in the mash tun and stir back in, this helps to filter out the crap?
7. Now take a measurement of the SG and run off the remainder into the HLT (I was thinking of using my fermenting bin as the vessel).
8. Pour the remainder of the hot water into the mash tun and give a good stir, how long should I keep this in the mash tun?

After your mash you will add the extra water required for your 1st sparge, give it a good stir and leave for 10 mins. Then run off some wort and pour it back in til you get clear runnings [tho this seems a bit subjective to me, cos mine never is clear, bu the beers great.] Then pour the 1st batch into yer holding vessel. Add 2nd quantity of heated sparge water and repeat above steps.

10. Transfer this into the boiler and boil for 90 mins. This is the bit I'm worried about if I plan on doing a 5G brew and my boiler is 27L (just below 6G). Won't the total amount of wort produced be less than 5G afterwards due to evaporation? I could top the water up but I'm guessing that would make it too diluted?

You will need to keep adding wort to keep it topped up, I think. You will need to have collected more than 5G of wort initially. there is a batch sparge calculator on the website somewhere which will work this all out for you.

And if you are doing a 5G brew, a 5G FV will be fine

hopefully someone will be a ong shortly to put you straight on where I may have gone wrong

[Calum]

Hi PS

Ade's replies are good but I thought I would add a couple of things:

First off you don't need to heat up 27ltrs for the mash - just heat up what you need. If you have a 5kg of grain then you only need to heat up what you need for the mash so that would be around 12.5/15ltrs depending on what your mash ratio is.

I would also agree with the strike temperature. You lose some when you drop into the mash tun and then again when you add the grain. Best to err on the high side and it can be a nightmare boiling kettles to get the temp up again.

The size of your boiler shouldn't be a problem unless your boil is so vigourous that you are losing large amounts over the 90mins (I don't think the Burco's have that problem). However even if you end up with less than expected you will probably find that your OG will be higher than expected. All you need to do is dilute down with an appropriately treated volume of water to get you back to your brew length and required OG.

The other big tip for a first time is CHECK TAPS ARE SHUT at every possible occasion (I'm now a bit OCD about it).

Other than that I would suggest that you just go for it as you will learn more on the job than you will discussing it and also find it a really rewarding experience.

[PaulStat]

I've just been taking a look at that batch sparge calculator, how's it work. More specifically what do these fields mean? Or how to guesstimate

Percentage Loss During Boil, how do I know this?
Enter estimated loss to hops and trub, ditto!

I need an explanation

[Grahame]

I've just been taking a look at that batch sparge calculator, how's it work. More specifically what do these fields mean? Or how to guesstimate

Percentage Loss During Boil, how do I know this?
Enter estimated loss to hops and trub, ditto!

I need an explanation

I used the values suggsted in the calculator and found it perfect. the loss will be 15% as its 10% per hour and you will boil for 1.5hrs. You need to measure your mash tun dead space by adding say 5L of water, opening its tap and draining it until it stops flowing, then pour the remaining water in the tun into a measuring jug to measure the volume. 3L is good for the trub loss I have found (for an average brew, those with a lot of hops may need this increased a wee bit). The weight of the grain obviously varies depending on your recipe


G.

[mysterio]

You'll need some hops at the beginning of the boil and throughout depending on your recipe. Sorry for stating the obvious but you never know

Agree with the comments about heating up the strike water to around 80C before transfering to your mash tun, you'll lose a bit of heat on the way. If it's too hot, a couple of splashes of cold water is all that's needed - if it's too cold, you potentially have to take of a good few litres, boil, and re-add.

[PaulStat]

Ok so assuming I want a 5G brew (23L) I have a dead space of 500ml and i'm using 5KG of grain, this gives

Wort Required for the Boil: 30.6 L

Made up from two equal quantities of: 15.3L of wort collected from the mash.

Total Quantity of Water Required For Batch #1: 20.8L

Mash Volume: 12.5L

Top Up With: 8.3L

Water Required for Batch #2: 15.3L

So I believe this is saying for batch number 1 heat up 20.8L of water to 80C, pour off 12.5L of that into the empty mash tun, add the grain, give a good stir then top up with 8.3L, close the lid leave for 90 mins

Run off batch 1 to a vessel

Add the remaining 15.3L to the mash tun, stir well leave for 10 mins, add this to the HLT.

Now forgive me if i'm being stupid, but if I need 30.6L of wort and my boiler has a capacity of 27L, how's this going to work?

[ChrisG]

11. For the last 10 mins of the boil put the IC in the boiler to sanitise it. I presume I have to make sure the copper doesn't touch the element at the bottom? Could be a bit of a shock

I dont think you would get a shock as the elements are not live. If they were the liquid would conduct electricity.

[Alton_Bee]

Its going to work because you will have some saved in a bucket to the side to top up your boiler as it evaporates.

[PaulStat]

Its going to work because you will have some saved in a bucket to the side to top up your boiler as it evaporates.

At what point do I top it up though? Do I have to make sure it doesn't drop below a certain level.

[Alton_Bee]

Its going to work because you will have some saved in a bucket to the side to top up your boiler as it evaporates.

At what point do I top it up though? Do I have to make sure it doesn't drop below a certain level.

I would suggest you top up as you see a noticable drop in the level of the wort.

[Parva]

So I believe this is saying for batch number 1 heat up 20.8L of water to 80C, pour off 12.5L of that into the empty mash tun, add the grain, give a good stir then top up with 8.3L, close the lid leave for 90 mins

Nope, it's not saying that. Your mash is done for 90 minutes with 12.5l of water. After 90 minutes top this up with water at approx. 80c with 8.3l. Give it a good stir and leave for 10 minutes. Collect the first couple of jug fulls and carefully return back to the mash tun. After that, empty the mash tun wort into your collecting vessel.

You then pour in batch 2 (15.3l), stir, leave for 10 minutes, take first two jugs and return then take out your 2nd runnings to the collecting vessel. You are then ready to go to the boil and add your hops etc.

Note also! Your mash temperature wants to be in the range of 62c - 68c for the duration of the 90 minute mash period. Sparging temperature should be approx. 75c - 82c.

[Parva]

http://uk-homebrew.tripod.com/index.html

Have a good read of this excellent guide written by one of the regulars here, it should fill in a lot of blanks for you.