1st All Grain: too Much Wort.

[Crusader-Rob]

Hi everyone:

So I'm trying to correct my water volumes, here is what i did below, hopefully some advice will help me correct also.
Using Beersmith, i used Medium body-Batch sparge
Recipe was as follows:
*4.5kg Maris Otter, and 0.5kg Caramalt
*beer smith said 16 litres to mash at 66 degrees (water heated to 72), ended up at 64 degrees, and i lost 1 degree in an hour.
*I pre heated the MLT with 2 litres of boiling water and removed after 5-10 mins.
*Mash for 1 hour, and did my run off, ended up with 9.5-10 litres of wort, and began to heat that, 1.032 was my Og on first runnings.
*i then added sparage 1 of 6.75litres at 76 degrees, and ran off as normal.
*i then added my second sparge of 17 litres, and repeated as above.
Boiled 60 mins with EKG Hops Additions 60-30-1(40g-30g-30g)

and Irish moss @15mins
Cooled and pitched 1028 wyeast, 2 litre starter.

I ended up with about 6 litre of wort left over, for 21 litre batch plus starter=23 litres
and still got 1.048 OG before yeast pitching. Beersmith said it should have been 1.051, so i didn't miss by too much. its just a waster of good beer... (i don't have a spare vessel for the extra wort.)

anyone have advice for me on my next batch soon.?

[Crusader-Rob]

Good thinking, i think i have one lying around somewhere. will try that on my next batch :)

[Dougal]

On the garden is fine unless you have a dog. I compost my trub in a closed compost bin, as hops are toxic to dogs. I've actually seen a dog with hop poisoning since reading that thread- he'd just eaten one of those little hop teabags that HB stores sell. It's quite something to watch. Their whole system overheats and they're in danger of organ damage etc. Hops taste pretty bitter, but if they're covered in sweet wort then some dogs will try and eat them.

[Crusader-Rob]

Sounds messy.....

[David Wood]

Just my 2 cents.

I have used beersmith for approx 3 years. and i have not had a problem  with to much wort.

Iam usually under or over by 1L on any thing from a 23L to 56L batch.(i dont think thats a problem). the gravity is bang on 95% of the time.

When it comes to trub I filter every thing through a fine mesh bag and end up with a fist size lump of ick. I also use a hop sock which helps.

I also filter from the fermenter to my bottling bucket. I have dialed my system in from the start and rely on beersmith. It works for me. Most of the setings are the standard ones.

Dave

[Crusader-Rob]

right so here is the information i mentioned, From my first AG I had the following information tapped into the equipment:

Mash tun Volume: 50.00L

Mash tun weight: 4.08KG

Mash Tun Specific Heat: 0.3

Lauter Tun dead space: 3.03L

Adjust Mash Volume for DeadSpace: Ticked

Loss to Trub and Chiller 2.84L

Top Up Water: 0

Bopil Time 60 Min

Boil Off: 6.79L

Batch size: 21L

Fermenter Loss: 1.7

Post Voil Volume: 24.79

Cooling Srinkage: 4%

[Crusader-Rob]

Mash In: 16.07L

Batch Sparge: 6.24L, 17.3L

Single infusion, Medium Body: Batch sparge

What change should i make, what is recommended.

[Ralph]

Why is there a Lauter tun dead space involved? Shouldn't that be set to Mash Tun dead space?

How much dead space does your mash tun have Rob? Mine is about 1.5L, or if I put a block of wood under one end about 0.5L.

A boil off of 6.8L seems quite high? What is your evaporation set to?

Otherwise everything else looks fine. How about if you were to post a screen shot of the Vols tab in Beersmith. I think that would give us more information to go off? Perhaps a screen shot of the Mash tab as well?

[Crusader-Rob]

Evaporation rate is showing as 21.5%  per hour.

it did seem a bit high, yeah it said mash lauter tun dead space, i just shortened it. Should I have the adjust mash volume for deadspace ticked?

I've moved the boil off rate to 5.5Litres or 19.7% evaporation.

Based on those screenshot,. anything else i should change??

[Ralph]

Looking through that a couple of things. 

Evaporation rate. Mine is at about 15% yours about 20%. This is probably due to equipment settings, but I usually get pretty close with 15% and I have a burner that gives a very good boil!

3L sounds like a lot of dead space in your mash tun. Is it actually this much?

You also have 3L for Lauter tun dead space. You probably just heat your water in your pot and tip  the whole volume into the mash tun so there is unlikely to be any lauter dead space? Take this down to zero unless you have a specific water heating device that has a dead space.

I usually tick "drain mash tun before sparging" in your mash settings.

If you clean these things up you should get close to the right amount of wort? It would take out the 3L extra from the lauter tun setting and another couple of litres from the evaporation. Check your other losses to make sure they are reasonably accurate as well.

Good luck!

[Crusader-Rob]

Ok, so lauter dead space zero.

Mash tun Dead space, maybe 1.5L its pretty good

Take it down to maybe 17% evaporation (I don't want to end up under volume).

I'll siphone off the trub in the kettle, and adjust the loss to trub in the kettle from 2.84, i think that'll be too much for a small beer like this.

I'll tick the drain before sparging, and see what it come out at.

Fruit beer here we come... I'll let you know how it goes after the weekend. Fingers Crossed and hopefully I get alot closer.

Will post more tabs if I'm wrong still.

[Grant R Baker]

Looks better... if too low you will only get a higher ABV beer.  Maybe a little low and working your way up if you have anymore trouble... but I think you are on to it.

 

Good luck with yer brew.

[Grant R Baker]

Just quickly adding up your dead spaces and losses.... 3.03+2.84+1.7 = 7.57litres, it seems high.

What you need to do is figure out the exact losses in your equipment (or close to).

Lauter Tun and Mash Tun Dead space - mine is zero or about 50ml.. the grain absorbs a fair amount but Beersmith will calculate that for you.

Loss to Trub, well if you leave 2.84litres in the boiler then you will lose it, if not then it is going in your fermenter. It is normal for your brew to shrink by 1 litre during chilling after the boil.

Fermenter loss - okay this is the estimated amount of loss cause by leaving the yeast cake behind... not too bad there.

 

Maybe you should try a simpler software package like BrewMate, Its BrewDay calculations are easy to play with and adjust... but it does not take into account your equipment.

I prefer BeerSmith you building beer recipes to target, but BrewMate for it simplistic and realistic BrewDay volumes and temperatures.... I think BeerSmith is a bit anal there.