Help with my First All-Grain 'Recipe' Instructions!!!!!!

[Darren Andrews (Daza)]

Hey guys my All-Grain recipe kit arrived today with an "easy" to follow instructions?? from the BrewShop it's an American Pale-Ale. I have a few questions about it that have me confused. My main concern is the amount of sparge water to add after my mash? and how much to start with before I do the mash? It is a 23 litre batch. Without the use of a sight glass how will I know how much is in my pot after I remove the grain bag? any help and advice would be great please. The other is in my recipe instruction sheet for the hop additions it reads like this....

Hops

Boil     75min     7gm   Cascade

Boil     30min     14gm Cascade

Boil     10min     34gm Cascade

Boil       0min     42gm Cascade

Dry Hop  5-7days 42gm Cascade

What is Dry Hop? and does the rest refer to the top of list goes in first and is therefore boil for 75mins?

Once brought to the boil? and the 0min put in just as you turn the heat off?

Also says, at the completion of the boil(75min), leave in pot for 20-30mins "Then" cool rapidly to around 20 degrees.

Please help me make sense of this in particular the sparge issue and how to gauge how much water I have and how to tell? I was thinking of using a long metal ruler as a guide and mark it at certain levels and place in the wort to see how much is in there after grain bag comes out!.

Cheers guys.

[Darren Andrews (Daza)]

That's the stuff I need to be told mate. start with 33L at a temp of 67 deg C and then switch off heat add bag and grains and do a mash!. Thanks again. hey I started another thread on this topic pretty much trying to get it in order of the whole process could you give that the once over for me please appreciate it.

[Darren Andrews (Daza)]

so I am starting with 5kg of grain so I'll lose 5 litres of water, so starting with 30L will give me 25L so why will I add 12L of sparge water? and the target is 23L will I lose a lot of water during the boil?

[oliver]

5kg seems a bit light for an american pale ale at 23L, I would have thought you'd need 6kg or so, but nevermind, did they say what the expected OG (original gravity) should be?

So working backwards from your target of 23L in the fermenter:
23L + 2L (cooling loss) = 25L at the end of the boil
+ 4L (loss due to hops) = 29L at end of the boil
+ 6L (loss due to evaporation during the boil 90min) = 35L at start of boil

So that would be 9 litres of sparge water. I think beersmith told me 12L because it treats the batch size as being 23L post fermentation (you lose a couple of litres during the ferment).

I tend to lose a lot of wort in a hoppy beer, but everyone's system is a little different.

If in doubt you can always sparge a little less and using your measuring ruler to top up with water during the  boil.

[Darren Andrews (Daza)]

35L at start of boil? then how much strike water before mash? and I added up all the grains and it comes to 5.111kg and the OG is 1.052 and the FG is 1.013 IBU is 28(don't know what that is?) and the EBC is 10(another don't know what that is?) the ABV is 5.15% know what that is yeah!  So 9Litres of sparge water added to strike water after mash? giving me 35L  at start of boil means that after mash I have 24Litres  and added 9Litres of sparge water and so started with 33L of strike water? cheers. lucky I'm good at maths or I'd be stuffed big time haha.

[Darren Andrews (Daza)]

I was about to do a 30L strike water at 70 deg C and aim for a 29L pre boil  for for 23 Litre batch of beer, is that wrong?

[oliver]

Nah not wrong mate. I'd be surprised if you can get 23L in the fermenter at 1.052 from 5kg of grain in a hoppy beer. So if you start with 29L pre boil I'd say you'll probably hit your OG numbers but you probably won't get 23L in the fermenter, which is fine I reckon. The numbers I gave you above were to try and hit 23L in the fermenter. Should make good beer no matter which way you go :)

[Darren Andrews (Daza)]

Hey got only 18L in fermenter a bit disappointed in that, but there you and had 30L pre-boil lost a lot while boiling, and a bit chilling too. that trub is everywhere!! and probably in my fermenter too. I'm wondering if I should syphon after 1 or 2 weeks to a glass carboy? would that give me a much clearer beer?

[Ryan Perkins]

Hey Darren, I wouldn't worry too much about the trub at this stage and I personally would never bother transferring an ale to a secondary unless making something random like a sour beer.  The potential problems by transferring (oxidation, infection etc) far outweigh the benefits gained.

This article is well worth a read regarding the amount of trub present in the fermentor.

[Darren Andrews (Daza)]

Nearly done mate my wort nearly at chilled temp and was about 20L and pre boil was 30L took loads of photos will post them up tonight. Cheers to everyone that gave me some advice.

[Darren Andrews (Daza)]

That's exactly the info I needed thanks heaps! Big help I'll still get a measuring device like a long ruler to help as a guide. Cheers mate.