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NBBrewer Intro

NBBrewer

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Hi. I'm new to brewing at home. I have some chemistry background as well as some lab and quality control career experience. I have been making wine from kits for a few years now and I recently hacked a stout kit to make a Cascadian Dark Ale which turned out pretty good. I have a hacked IPA kit bottle conditioning now. I am going to try an all grain half batch BIAB next of 3 gallons. Here is my recipe and directions,

1. 5 lbs(2268 grams) 2 row malt
2. 1 lbs(454 grams) caramel malt 80L
3. 0.4 lb(182 grams) black patent malt
4. 0.4 lbs(182 grams) chocolate malt
5. 0.5 lbs(227 grams) quick oats
6. 0.5 oz cascade hops 60 min
7. 0.5 oz cascade hops 20 min
8. 0.5 oz cascade hops 10 min
9. 1 oz dry hop for 7 days
10. Heat 2 pots one with 9.2 litres (2.43 gallons mash at 156 degrees F) one for sparge with 9.2 litres (2.43 gallons at 168 degrees F)
11. Alternatively mash more grain and add water to primary fermentor until volume is at 3.17 Litres and S>G is at
12. Keep the mash at 152 to 154 degrees for 1 hour.
13. Sparge grain bag at 168 degrees with  and boil both pots for 1 hour

Here are the variables and facts
Batch Size (gal)
3.17
Grain Bill (lbs.)
7.3
Boil Time (hrs.)
1
Trub Loss (gal.)
.25
Equipment Loss (gal.)
0.1
Mash Thickness (qts/lb.)
1.33
Grain Temperature (deg.)
70
Target Mash Temperature (deg.)
152

Constants
Wort Shrinkage (pct)
4
Grain Absorption Constant (gal/lb)
0.11
Percent Boiloff per Hour (pct/hr)
10

Results
Total Water Needed (gal.)
4.86
Mash Water Needed (gal.)
2.43
Sparge Water Needed (gal.)
2.43
Strike Temperature (deg.)
164.33
Pre-Boil Wort Produced (gal.)
3.96


Batch Size 3.17Gallons
Boil Size 4.00Gallons @ 60 min
OG 1.061
FG 1.015
Color 42.9? SRM
Efficiency 75%
Bitterness 36.5 IBU (tinseth)
BG:GU 0.59
Alcohol 5.9% ABV
Calories 207 per 12oz

My problem is I don't have a pot large enough yet to brew this pre-boil wort of 4 gallons(15 Litres) to fill my 3.17 gallon carboy. Is it feasible to adjust my O.G. higher so I can do a boil with my small pot and top up the primary fermentor which will bring my O.G. back down?

I know I will have a thicker mash, sparge a little less and top up the primary fermentor to about 3.5 gallons to account for trub loss.

Ultimately I will get a larger pot  but wondered if this idea I have is possible.
 
Yes, it is.  In your equipment profile, under the fermenter/bottling section there is an input for 'top off water'.  This is for adding water to the fermenter post wort manufacture and will result in adjustment of the water requirements in your recipe to account for the ending dilution.

Do do this properly, you want to make the adjustment to your equipment profile and then you will need to change the equipment profile in your recipe to this new profile. 
 
Thank you Oginme. I used brew365.com for mash and sparge calculations and brewgr.com for recipe calculations. I didn't see anything for top-off water. Do you recommend another website tool or calculator?
 
I downloaded the trial version of BeerSmith 2. Its a little more complicated than the others I have been looking at.
 
I have split batches between two pots. The boil off increases. In one pot I put the bittering hops and in the other the flavor additions then combined into one pot for cooling. It was near zero outside, the propane tank was acting up so I had to do a 5 gallon 6.3 gal pre-boil volume, on the stove's anemic burners. Splitting the batch guaranteed a vigorous boil on both pots. Again, boil off was much higher than I expected and I had to add top-off water. You can use a specific gravity calculator to determine how much water to add: http://www.brewersfriend.com/dilution-and-boiloff-gravity-calculator/  That looks like it will be a high ABV 3 gallons of beer, btw... and pretty roasty. You might want to consider "capping" the mash with the dark grains... using them in the mash tun only during the last 15 min. of the mash (just a thought).
 
Thanks Retired18Z.  Pretty Dark indeed. ABV about 7.2%. I wasn't going to sparge and just top off with water but i decided to try to extract some of the precious wort from the grain. I was indeed trying to get the best of both worlds. I had to really keep turning the mash to keep consistent temperature. Not sure what effects agitating the grains throughout the mash would have.

You sound like a real trooper with your anemic stove.
Cheers
 
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