Mash brewing help

[Butty69]

Hi all,

On Sunday I did my first full mash brew and had a few problems which I need some advice on before I attempt my second batch.

I have been using Graham Wheelers brew your own British real ale book as a guide and decided to follow the recipe for Wadworth 6X.

The mash went well and after sparging I had roughly 20 litres of wort, the recipe then said transfer this to the boiler and top up with water until the volume is as close to the final volume as possible. I was following a recipe for 19 litres so did not add any additional water. I then boiled for 90 mins with the lid on and with no spills but after I drained the wort from the boiler I only had around 13 litres of wort left. I have since added my yeast starter and it is fermenting nicely.

My questions are,

Is it usual to loose that much wort during the boil and if so how much wort should I have in the boiler to end up with 19 litres after the boil?

Now that I only have 13 litres fermenting instead of 19 will the alcohol volume be higher?

 

[pittsy]

yes alcohol will be higher , what was your Hydrometer reading ? And you will lose some water to boiling although 7 litres does seem a little high i would of thought around 3 ish lost at 60 min boil , next time if you can't add more water in boil you could if hydrometer reading is high add some cold water (be careful how much as it may dilute too much )or if reading is ok but level of wort low you could add some boiled water with malt extract in it ) also maybe you could part cover your boil (don't totally cover) next time to lessen loss in steam . also 60 mins boil prob be enough for hops etc which will help in less loss.
at the top left of page next to malt miller click on calculators for water loss and other helpful things

 

[31bb3]

I usually lose around 7 ltrs in the boil some to evaporation and some to the hops oh and some in dead space

 

[Butty69]

Thanks Pittsy will make sure I add additional water and try a 60 min boil for the next batch.

At work at the mo so dont have the Hydrometer reading but is it too late to add additional water now? I added the yeast yesterday evening.

 

[pittsy]

depends on strength you want best to add boiled water thats cooled down to approx 18 to 20oC
add malt if wanted to boiling water stir well and dissolve to maintain strength although only poss 500 g ( with out reading its gonna be guess work ) don't add boiling or hot water to vessel after yeast as it may shock or kill it :

 

[Dunfie]

Pittsy is right, there is no way of answering your question about how strong your beer is if you never took a gravity reading. Basic hydrometers cost a couple of quid from any lhbs.

If you end up with a lower amount of wort than you intended but want to be as close as possible to the OG you were after then you can simply work out how much water to add by calculating the following.

(Gravity of Wort Collected / OG you Intended) * Amount of Wort Collected.

so if your were after 19 litres at 1040 but ended up with 13 litres at 1050 you would have (50/40)*13 = 16.25 litres. So you would add 3.25 litres to dilute the gravity to 1040.

This will tell you the total wort at the gravity you were intending and you can simply top up with water. Depending on your water supply you might need to boil or treat before adding. My tap water is very soft so I tend to just top up with that.