all grain

[dave2]

hi brew buddys just getting gear sorted to move over to all grain one thing im no sure of is when you sparge do you sparge until you end up with say 5 gal if the recipe is 5 gal thank for any help dave.

[shiny beast]

You need to collect enough for your pre-boil volume. For example; if you're brewing five gallons you may want to collect 6 gallons as the pre-boil volume. Also take into consideration, you will loose some wort to the hops/hot break material. Try to enjoy brewing, and dont get worried if you end up with a bit more/less than you planned. It usualy takes a few brews to fine tune everything.

[dave2]

thank shiny its not has hard as i thought going to have lots of fun i think lol

[tubby_shaw]

Ideally you will, as shiny beast says sparge to collect sufficient to allow for evaporation during the boil. What you also need to check though is the specific gravity of the runnings.
If your runnings get down to 1.006 (corrected for temperature) stop sparging immediately. Adding runnings lower than SG 1.006 can have an adverse effect on flavour and head retention
But above all enjoy your brewing, there seems to be a lot to remember during your first few brews but it gets easier quickly

[Frothy]

Depending on the conditions you can loose anything from 10% - 30% of the boil volume due to evaporation. You can top this up with water at the end but it's better if you've got some extra wort. If you can collect your desired volume and get it boiling - then continue to collect the extra runnings seperately this usually works out pretty well.

Frothy

[notassuch]

If you can collect your desired volume and get it boiling - then continue to collect the extra runnings
seperately this usually works out pretty well.

Frothy, just refering back to Tubby's advice, would you use runnings below 1006 to top-up evaporation
or would you calculate a larger grain bill than the recipe states (according to your efficiency) to get your surplus?

[Andy]

Stop collecting wort from the sparge when the runnings get to 1006 and don't use any (wort of that gravity) for topping up the boiler.

[SteveD]

If you can collect your desired volume and get it boiling - then continue to collect the extra runnings
seperately this usually works out pretty well.

Frothy, just refering back to Tubby's advice, would you use runnings below 1006 to top-up evaporation
or would you calculate a larger grain bill than the recipe states (according to your efficiency) to get your surplus?

Stop extraction and don't use the runnings once you hit G1006 as Andy says. Malt is cheap, so at least until until you get your technique and equipment toned in the better way is to have more grain than you need. At least you'll hit your targets even if your efficiency is low, and it's better to have too much wort and throw some away (or freeze it to make yeast starters) than suffer the disappointment of a weaker than intended, or a smaller than intended, brew.

Also, there's a school of though which I'm tending to agree with that you get better quality by using more a bit more grain than needed and stopping the sparge short, thereby not having to use the weakest runnings at all.

[notassuch]

Thanks Andy,
My first brew yesterday (Eskimo stout) fell well short of the
19L in Bob's recipe. Topped it up with water as I'd already
sparged down to 1006 and ended up with an OG of 1049, as
opposed to the target 1051.
Not going to lose sleep over it but your tips are invaluable.

/edit: And thanks SteveD. I'll definitely take this into account
on Brewday 2.

[SteveD]

Thanks Andy,
My first brew yesterday (Eskimo stout) fell well short of the
19L in Bob's recipe. Topped it up with water as I'd already
sparged down to 1006 and ended up with an OG of 1049, as
opposed to the target 1051.
Not going to lose sleep over it but your tips are invaluable.

/edit: And thanks SteveD. I'll definitely take this into account
on Brewday 2.

Only 2 points adrift? You're right not to lose sleep over it If you look at pump clips you'll see OG's of some commerical beers listed as a range, say 1042-1044 as even they can drift a bit!

[notassuch]

Thanks SteveD. I suspected it might not make a great deal of
difference, but being a first timer I have no concept of what all
of these figures mean. Cheers.

[Bigster]

Also, there's a school of though which I'm tending to agree with that you get better quality by using more a bit more grain than needed and stopping the sparge short, thereby not having to use the weakest runnings at all.

agreed SteveD thats the way I am going keeping the grain proportions the same - seems to have less of a gritty taste if that makes sense