High water volumes

Hey all -

Forgive the rookie question - in my experiences, I seem to be provided high water volumes which are resulting in low gravities. I'm working on a 6 gallon recipe with ~10 lbs of grain and BeerSmith is currently suggesting 9.53 gallons of water, between mash and sparge. I'm not sure that between what remains in the wort and what boils off I'm going to lose 3.53 gallons in the process. Any thoughts or advice?? -

Hunter

Measure and mark your brew pot volumes, measure the losses BeerSmith prompts you for (mash tun deadspace, trub loss, mash efficiency, and fermentation losses, then boil until you get the required post-boil volume. The hardest part (for me) is anticipating the boil-off; I have difficulty regulating my flame to get a consistent boil. But if my post-boil volume is low, I add water; if it's high, I boil longer. Of course both can affect hops utilization a bit, but with practice I find I'm getting closer.

Once you can quantify your losses, plug them into BeerSmith and trust the results. My name is neither Coors, Anheiser nor Bush, so I don't worry too much about any residual variation.

If you produce a beer you don't like, pour it out or let me know; I'll help you drink it.

Dan

9.5 gallons is not too far off, depending on your system setup.  As, durrettd said...measure your known system losses.  Be sure your boiloff is setup appropriately and that you meet that target during the actual boil.  You SHOULD boiloff ~15% or so...that's about a gallon maybe more, if you boil for 90 minutes more like 1.5 gallons.  Grain absorbs about 16 oz of water per pound.  So, that's another 1.25 gallons. 

So, boiloff and grain absorption should account for ~2.5 gallons.  The rest could be MLT deadspace and/or trub losses.  I lose 3/4 gallon in my kettle (a keg system). 

Thanks guys! I will use the above advice and roll with the suggested amount, and if we miss the mark, I'll find out where.