Greg Hughes RIS

I am about to embark on a RIS(brew tomorrow) I took the recipe from his book and entered it through Brewsmith, taking the quantity of malts and hops from that. So all malts ground and water treated ready for the boil tomorrow. It was when i was getting the mash water ready when i noticed that the amount is 25.5l followed by two sparges of 7.5l. My mash tun is only got a limit of 26l which is entered into my equipment in beer smith. There is a 2.5 litre space below my false bottom and i am wondering if this has not been capture by beer smith. Could i just with max amount of water that i can get into the mash tun along with grain bill and then add left over water to the two sparges. Hope someone can assist has it is all set to go in the morning. Thanks in advance

I wouldn't bother too much about the volume for anything up to the fermentation stage.

I regularly finish up with less wort than planned and have to make it up to the 23 litre mark (my normal amount) with cold water. I don't worry because blasting in the cold water helps to aerate the wort. :thumb:

However, if the recipe calls for 25.5 litres, your FV can't cope and you can't make the wort up to that amount, then there may be a problem further down the line with a much higher ABV than the one desired. (i.e. you may start falling over and finding your mother-in-law attractive after only two pints!) This (the high ABV) may not be a bad thing if you are planning to lay the brew down for a number of months as high ABV beer stores a lot longer than low ABV beer.

Either way, don't worry, don't hurry and remember to stop and smell the flowers! :thumb:

(Guess who is well into his third pint of Vienna Lager!) :whistle:

Yeah, I think that is your only option. Its probably worth using the "Can I Mash It?" tool on this web page to work out how much strike water you can use.

Could you not reduce the mash water volume (as long as your water to grain ratio doesn't go below 2:1) by say 5ltrs? And add 2.5ltrs to each sparge?

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private4587 said:

I am about to embark on a RIS(brew tomorrow) I took the recipe from his book and entered it through Brewsmith, taking the quantity of malts and hops from that. So all malts ground and water treated ready for the boil tomorrow. It was when i was getting the mash water ready when i noticed that the amount is 25.5l followed by two sparges of 7.5l. My mash tun is only got a limit of 26l which is entered into my equipment in beer smith. There is a 2.5 litre space below my false bottom and i am wondering if this has not been capture by beer smith. Could i just with max amount of water that i can get into the mash tun along with grain bill and then add left over water to the two sparges. Hope someone can assist has it is all set to go in the morning. Thanks in advance

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Hi Mate

GH suggests mashing this huge 8kg grain bill in 20L of water. (I have p180 open in front of me!). This might just squeeze into your mash tun.

I have never actually used a 3 vessel system myself, but am fairly sure that the mash tun size is the limiting factor, as the sparge will be done after wort has been drained off.

If you are really nervous about the size of the grain bill and have a one can kit or malt extract, then 1.7kg of malt extract might be similar to 2.2kg of grain, so you could reduce the grain bill and bang in the extract at the end transfer to FV.

Hope this makes sense!

Slid

Dutto said:

I wouldn't bother too much about the volume for anything up to the fermentation stage.
...........etc............

Either way, don't worry, don't hurry and remember to stop and smell the flowers! :thumb:

(Guess who is well into his third pint of Vienna Lager!) :whistle:

Click to expand...

Well said Dutto :thumb::thumb:

That Vienna Lager's good innit..!

well managed to get this baby in the no chill cube and so far have met all the required targets as far as levels and gravities go mind you seem to be a bit high on the mash Ph but not too much. My question is on the yeast, it states to use two packets of dry yeast of which i am going to use Crossmyloof Us ale yeast. Do i need to rehydrate these separately or can i place both in the 150ml of luke warm water suggested by beer smith?

private4587 said:

well managed to get this baby in the no chill cube and so far have met all the required targets as far as levels and gravities go mind you seem to be a bit high on the mash Ph but not too much. My question is on the yeast, it states to use two packets of dry yeast of which i am going to use Crossmyloof Us ale yeast. Do i need to rehydrate these separately or can i place both in the 150ml of luke warm water suggested by beer smith?

Click to expand...

Separate rehydration will not be required.

For everyone except Sheldon Cooper.

well got this into the fermenter and well aerated added rehydrated yeast and bubbling away nicely. the amount in the fermenter turned out to be approx 24.5l instead of the expected 23l. I think this could be the cause of a slight lowering of the OG this was expected to be 1.080 and i got 1.075. Hope this doesn't cause any problems. With these figures in mind what should i be looking a for future brews of this drink to correct the levels?