Water

[bsomppi]

Let me first off say this website is frickin' amazing!

I'm a very green brewer my first batch is fermenting as we speak (it's actually a step by step kit) I really want to dive into this! I've been looking at the different recipe's on this site and my big question right now is how to read how much water to start with in these recipes. Here's what's tripping me up.

Example a 5 gallon batch says the Boil Size is 7.5 gallons. But when I look at the "Quick Water Requirements" the "Total Mash Water Needed"is 7.28 gallons and the "Amount Going into the Kettle" is 6.16 gallons.

What do I start with? 7.5, 7.28, or 6.18 gallons?

Thanks!

 

[Hogarthe]

Are you doing extract or all grain? If you are doing extract you don't need to worry about mash volume. A big thing is to set up your equipment profile too. You need to know how much water you boil off in an hour to know how much to start with.

 

[bsomppi]

I’m trying to understand how to read a recipe. With those 3 options: boil size, total mash water needed, and amount going to the kettle, I’m asking which one should I follow first?

 

[philjohnwilliams]

If you are brewing all grain then you need to take into account the amount of water the grain will absorb, so while your mash might need 7.5 gallons, after the grain absorbs some you may very well have a bit over 6 actually going into the kettle.

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

you need to fine tune your profile to account for the correct amount of water, the quick water calculator feeds from your profile, grain amount, and batch size, not your recipe starting boil

 

[Craigerrr]

Two things that will help you.

1) There is a beginner's tutorial that will help you immensely. It is right here at the top of the Beginners sub-forum.

2) The mash hacks water calculation video was the light switch for me for water volumes. Google "how to calculate water volumes for brewing", you should find the mash hacks video by Ben Cull.

Good luck!

 

[Texas Ale Works]

Quick water requirements give estimates based on your system losses and how you build your system profile.
Total mash water needed is the total amount of water you will need to get to the other volumes.
Batch size - Fermenter is how much wort you want in the fermenter - this is based on trub and system loses and such. If you pump and leave stuff behind in the kettle use this setting.
Batch size - Kettle -is how much wort is left in the kettle before you empty into the fermenter - it includes trub and such, if you just dump everything into primary this is your setting.
Estimated boil size is just that....a random number......

Get your profile built, and start with the total mash water and see where that get ya

 

[Craigerrr]

Here is a screenshot of the video I mentioned above, watching this video was my aha moment with understanding water volume calculations. As the others note, see up your equipment profile as best you can. When you brew and volumes don't come out as planned make adjustments. There are so many factors, including efficiency. In order to get a handle on efficiency you will need to get your equipment profile set up and have a few brews

 

[Ward Chillington]

Oh yeah, frequent question, lotta answers....all good and you get to pick the one that best fits you! Here's a prior thread that helped me figure it out...

https://www.brewersfriend.com/forum/threads/how-to-deal-with-boil-off-to-get-the-target-yield.10017/

Example a 5 gallon batch says the Boil Size is 7.5 gallons. But when I look at the "Quick Water Requirements" the "Total Mash Water Needed"is 7.28 gallons and the "Amount Going into the Kettle" is 6.16 g

And what they SHOULD BE SAYING in that direction is that you should collect 7.5 gallons of sweet wort in your kettle and boil it for an hour. Your mash water goes in first then you rinse your mash with sparge water. With some good following of directions, you will have some amount above 5 gallons of wort to put in the fermenter.