Help with recipe

[Mark10409]

Hello,
Im looking for a little help with a Brewers Friend recipe, its the Orange Honey Wheat, Looked really good to me. Im still very new to all grain brewing. My question was on the boil size: 5 gallons. What I was thinking of doing was after the mash (6.5qt.) was done do the 60 min boil and after it is done I could just add water to get to the 3 gallon batch size? or am I missing something? Any help would be appreciated. I have attached the recipe.

Thanks,
Mark

 

[J A]

You have to sparge with the rest of the water and you have to be sure that your system is such that you can count on 2 full gallons of boil off in 60 minutes. Most likely you'll be better off assuming less boil-off.
Do you know what your boil off rate is? What sort of mash tun do you have? Are you doing BIAB?
Your mash schedule would probably be more like 7 qts for a single infusion of 154, 3 qts of boiling water for mash-out infusion, 8 qts of approx.170 degree water for sparge.

 

[Mark10409]

You have to sparge with the rest of the water and you have to be sure that your system is such that you can count on 2 full gallons of boil off in 60 minutes. Most likely you'll be better off assuming less boil-off.
Do you know what your boil off rate is? What sort of mash tun do you have? Are you doing BIAB?
Your mash schedule would probably be more like 7 qts for a single infusion of 154, 3 qts of boiling water for mash-out infusion, 8 qts of approx.170 degree water for sparge.

J A, Thanks for replying. So far to date Ive done a few alternative methods not using mash tun. I doubt if I could boil off 1/4 gallon in 60 min. I can figure out my boil off rate is, but unknown at this time. Thanks for the added data to get this going, appreciate your help. Thanks, Mark

 

[J A]

In any pot that can hold up to 5 gallons, you should be boiling off at least 3-4 quarts per hour. Be sure you're boiling and not just simmering.

 

[White Haus Brews]

Agree with JA. My boil off is typically between 1.25-1.5 Gallons/hr and if I really crank up the propane burner it's closer to 2. I would assume around 1 if you're not sure. Also plan on some water loss absorbed in grain (about 1G/10lb of grain which also varies pretty widely based on your system) and hops. Think of your first brew as a test. If it were me I would err on the side of a little less water than more because you can always top up with water in the fermenter.

 

[White Haus Brews]

Looking at the recipe, for what it's worth here's what I think:
- The flavors look great, I love a good honey wheat and orange is a great flavor to pair
- If your setup is BIAB it's not a problem but if you have a more traditional setup with mash tun that high amount of wheat can lead to slow/stuck sparges
- I would up the hops a bit to provide a little balance to the honey malt and orange and shoot for IBU closer to 20.
- I would add about 1lb of unpasturized honey to the fermenter as fermentation is just starting to slow down (day 4ish). The sugars will completely ferment out (which is why the recipe also uses honey malt) but I find it helps suggest the flavor and aroma of honey better than just honey malt alone.

Just my $0.02 though, I'm sure that recipe as is will also make a delicious brew. Happy brewing!

 

[Mark10409]

In any pot that can hold up to 5 gallons, you should be boiling off at least 3-4 quarts per hour. Be sure you're boiling and not just simmering.

J A,
Well I just finished trying to see what my boil off is. On a kitchen stove, no propane burner, I started with 3 gallons of water after 1 hour I ended up with exactly 2 gallons of water.

Thanks,
Mark

 

[Mark10409]

Looking at the recipe, for what it's worth here's what I think:
- The flavors look great, I love a good honey wheat and orange is a great flavor to pair
- If your setup is BIAB it's not a problem but if you have a more traditional setup with mash tun that high amount of wheat can lead to slow/stuck sparges
- I would up the hops a bit to provide a little balance to the honey malt and orange and shoot for IBU closer to 20.
- I would add about 1lb of unpasturized honey to the fermenter as fermentation is just starting to slow down (day 4ish). The sugars will completely ferment out (which is why the recipe also uses honey malt) but I find it helps suggest the flavor and aroma of honey better than just honey malt alone.

Just my $0.02 though, I'm sure that recipe as is will also make a delicious brew. Happy brewing!

Thank you for the tips! I really like about added the 1 lb of honey!

Thanks,
Mark

 

[J A]

On a kitchen stove, no propane burner,

Stove top boils are a little lacking for big batches. I've done 2.5 gallon batches in a 4 gallon pot on a stove but any step up from that realistically requires more heat. It's just too slow without a decent propane burner. I've gone 220v electric now and I'll never look back,...of course, I'm keeping my propane burner around for just in case.