boil size on recipe calculator

[Rudibrew]

hi i have a question concerning the recipe calculator,with regards to the boil size.
To put it in focus:
i would like to end with 10litres of wort in my primary fermentor,which i understand is the batch size.
boil size pre and post confuse me?

I BIAB and then sparge.
Is the pre boil my initial volume of water i start boiling with and is post boil after sparging?
why is there a calc button next to it

thanks guys,just really getting the hang of it.....

 

[Mark Farrall]

Pre is the water you start the boil with. post is the amount after the boil. Mainly used for the IBU calculations (and maybe colour?) that can't use the batch size when you choose fermentor as the target as that includes possible losses in the fermenter and transfer.

 

[Rudibrew]

ok so i start boiling 11litres of water(preboil)?
then i mash my grains.(BIAB)

then i remove the grains and drain.
i then sparge .

i then boil again.

what i then end up with is postboil?

 

[Rudibrew]

how do i get the calculator to show how much i should sparge
thanks for your replies

 

[Craigerrr]

You are confusing heating your mash water with boiling, you do not need to boil your water for mashing. There is only one boil which comes after mashing and then spraying, these are the numbers that pre boil and post boil refer to, essentially your boil off rate, and any wort left in the kettle after the boil. Boil off rate can vary depending on kettle size, and shape, as well as how hard you boil, as well as ambient temperature and humidity. To figure out your boil off rate, you could do a test by just boiling water for an hour.

 

[BarbarianBrewer]

In the Recipe Editor use the Add Quick Water Requirements. Also, when you choose "Brew It" on a recipe you can get step by step instructions. They are only suggestions so feel free to delete any you don't want and add those you do. Be sure to select "BIAB" as the Brew Method.

The general steps would be
1. Heat strike water
2. Add grains
3. Mash about 60 minutes
4. Drain wort to Boil Kettle or remove grain bag since you BIAB
5. Heat sparge water and pour over grain bag
6. Bring wort to a boil and add hops on schedule

I don't Brew In A Bag so the exact steps may not match your procedure. I mainly just wanted to get order and terms out there.

[Edited to remove spanish tranlation. I got my new members confused.]

 

[Blackmuse]

i would like to end with 10litres of wort in my primary fermentor

In Litres, a rough estimate for boil off rate would be 4-5 litres in an hour. If we take 4 litres as a starting point and assume that you have roughly 2 litres of loss via hop absorption and trub left in the kettle then it would appear that you would need an 18-20 litre kettle to start with at least 16 litres to boil down to 10 L in the fermentor. (You need headspace for water expansion and a way to avoid boil overs) - These are very rough guesses as to what you may be boiling off and losing to trub/deadspace but I wanted to give you something as an example -

If your kettle is not large enough for that and you can't get a bigger one quick enough for your next brew you could make a stronger/hoppier beer to start with and try topping off with cold water to reach your 10l volume in the fermentor. I have never heard of anyone doing this with "all-grain" so I do not know how it would turn out... Anyone ever done it?

 

[BarbarianBrewer]

In Litres, a rough estimate for boil off rate would be 4-5 litres in an hour. If we take 4 litres as a starting point and assume that you have roughly 2 litres of loss via hop absorption and trub left in the kettle then it would appear that you would need an 18-20 litre kettle to start with at least 16 litres to boil down to 10 L in the fermentor. (You need headspace for water expansion and a way to avoid boil overs) - These are very rough guesses as to what you may be boiling off and losing to trub/deadspace but I wanted to give you something as an example -

If your kettle is not large enough for that and you can't get a bigger one quick enough for your next brew you could make a stronger/hoppier beer to start with and try topping off with cold water to reach your 10l volume in the fermentor. I have never heard of anyone doing this with "all-grain" so I do not know how it would turn out... Anyone ever done it?

In Extract Brewing it is the standard to add top-off water in the fermenter. I don't see this being any different with All Grain. You could use the Dilution and Boiloff Gravity calculator to determine what the end-of-boil gravity should be so that you wind up with the desired gravity in the fermenter after topping off.

 

[Mark Farrall]

I've done it a few times and it's a standard practice for some. Especially during summer when they freeze the water and add it as ice to start the cooling.

 

[Craigerrr]

I've done it a few times and it's a standard practice for some. Especially during summer when they freeze the water and add it as ice to start the cooling.

That's clever!

 

[Blackmuse]

In Extract Brewing it is the standard to add top-off water in the fermenter. I don't see this being any different with All Grain. You could use the Dilution and Boiloff Gravity calculator to determine what the end-of-boil gravity should be so that you wind up with the desired gravity in the fermenter after topping off.

View attachment 10949

@Brewer #329768 - Rudi, I think this is your solution! Adding frozen or very cold water would help you cool and reach your goal without having to pick up a bigger kettle.

 

[Rudibrew]

You are confusing heating your mash water with boiling, you do not need to boil your water for mashing. There is only one boil which comes after mashing and then spraying, these are the numbers that pre boil and post boil refer to, essentially your boil off rate, and any wort left in the kettle after the boil. Boil off rate can vary depending on kettle size, and shape, as well as how hard you boil, as well as ambient temperature and humidity. To figure out your boil off rate, you could do a test by just boiling water for an hour.

getting it ...makes sense to re read the replies for a newbie,thanks

 

[Craigerrr]

getting it ...makes sense to re read the replies for a newbie,thanks

We are glad to help the newbs, I was a newbie not that long ago