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Am I chasing a pot of Gold at the end of a rainbow?

magnethead

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Hi Guys,
I was wondering if you could offer some sagely advice please. I making the first step into All grain after a few successful Partial mash's.
My Brewhouse efficiency is useless(35%), but I don't mind, I just add more grain.

I have a 20L Alu pot for mashing (MIAB - Mash in a bag) before boiling in the same pot. I want to keep the batch size small while I'm finding the recipes I like. Please take a look at this weissbier. I only want 9 Litres of Wort but the efficiency is soo crap I need a heap of Grain. I noticed the mash volume changing with the amount of Grain used. Am I stuck to adding extract for small batchs?

The mash volume is calling for 15Litres which would be well above the Boil Volume of 7Litres.

Am I breaking some Laws of Physics/Brewing here?

Thanks for any advice on small batches, or tricks to increase efficiency
Slan
Nathan
 

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If you look up my name here, I've posted a few times describing my previous partial/full mash stove-top method, usually in a thread with brew in a bag (BIAB).  You may find some tips there.  I'm short on time right now, but I managed 50-55% EE% and got 3.5 gallons from 7.5 to 8# grain.  It's a great way to learn. 

Look for "Bob Brews" too.  He is a BIAG'er. 
 
THanks for the info Maltlicker,
I got my hands on john Palmers book .. "how to brew" from a guy in work today. Looks like I was breaking some brewing LAWS. It says in the mashing chapter that...The Water-to-Grist Ratio should be 2 quarts per pound(4 Liters per Kilo)
That explains the stupid large mash volumes in my recipe :) I was never going to make only 9 Liters with all that Grain.....I''ll have to get my brewhouse efficiency up...back to the drawing board.

Looks like I have some learning to do.....This book is fairly technical!! I'll look up your posts for tips and 'Bob's brews' to get me rolling while I'm trying to download that book into my head.

Thanks again
Nathan
 
magnethead,
If you are trying some small brews try this location, http://www.biabrewer.info/viewforum.php?f=23 This thread is for Mini BIAB's Stovetop brewing. I am a BIAB'er and i haven't tried brewing smaller batches yet. I deal in volume and alcohol. Give BIAB a chance. It gives the highest efficiency for the least amount of work. I do traditional brewing for super large grain bills but BIAB is where my heart is! good Luck
 
Cheers Bobbrews,
That link was right up my street! I'll be BIAB for quite a while I think before I make something special enough to scale up production ;0 I have plenty of thirsty testers waiting after I told them homebrewing leaves all these Huge breweries in its wake.
 
magnethead asks:
Am I chasing a pot of Gold at the end of a rainbow?

To which I can only reply:
LoL,  aren't we all?
 
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