Sparge Volume with AG kit

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micklupulo

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I hope it is OK to start a fresh thread on this as the ones I have found are getting on a bit and my question seems to be rather removed from them. I am soon returning to AG after a massive break and am a bit rusty. I have a very old Electrim boiler and years ago would mash in it then sparge with sufficient water to bring the volume in it to the required level for boiling at the rate of 5l per kg. of malt but to a max of 20l as I was nervous about a bigger boil. See picture attached. The instructions for the 23l litre AG kit I have bought require 16l of water for the mash but also 16l for the sparge which even allowing for water retained in the grain and some boil off would result in more than 23l. Apart from that I do not think I can boil more than 20l or possibly 22l absolute max. Something is wrong somewhere (probably me) though I would add that most of the AG I did years ago turned out fine so help please!
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Boil with less water and back liquor after the boil would be my answer in other terms just do your recipe as if it is a 23ltr batch and adjust the mash volume and sparge too to fit your boil vessel then add the remaining water after the boil in the FV and take your OG then
 
It's the Dark Rock Tribute to Tribute so maybe their instructions follow a pattern. I have sought clarification from them but I know they are run off their feet with orders and also suspect my brewing equipment will now be viewed as being out of the Ark!
 
The best thing to do is to plug the figures into some brewing software and let that sort your mash and sparge water volumes. Click on Calculators at the top of the page and new recipe to start Brewers Friend, enter your planned volume, add the weight of your total grain (you can enter all as pale malt to simplify matters) and it will calculate the mash and sparge volumes.
 
Once you've finished your mash sparge into an FV and when done top up your boiler to your 20 litres and put the rest in another pot/s doing all your hop additions in the main pot.The other pot you will only have to boil for 10mins so as to sterilise your wort and when done add to your FV.
 
Boil with less water and back liquor after the boil would be my answer in other terms just do your recipe as if it is a 23ltr batch and adjust the mash volume and sparge too to fit your boil vessel then add the remaining water after the boil in the FV and take your OG then
I have no problem with a 16l mash but should perhaps have said that I have weighed the malt bag and it is 4kg therefore I would do a 20l boil which happens to be the max I would feel comfortable with. That means I envisage using between 4 and 5l sparge water into the sparge bag over a spare FV and I would then pour the collected sweet wort back into the boiler to make up the 20l. Eventually I would make any short of the 23l in the FV with cold water. Not totally sure of some of your terminology but does the above sound like a reasonable solution?
 
I have no problem with a 16l mash but should perhaps have said that I have weighed the malt bag and it is 4kg therefore I would do a 20l boil which happens to be the max I would feel comfortable with. That means I envisage using between 4 and 5l sparge water into the sparge bag over a spare FV and I would then pour the collected sweet wort back into the boiler to make up the 20l. Eventually I would make any short of the 23l in the FV with cold water. Not totally sure of some of your terminology but does the above sound like a reasonable solution?
Yes that would work also just do your mash in a bag (BIAB) and sparge it in a different vessel then add to your other wort and boil, If you have too much as it would need approx 28 litres to boil down to 23ltrs then just add the sparge wort a little at a time as you boil and it evaporates. This is to make sure all the wort is boiled and therefore sterile
 
I hope it is OK to start a fresh thread on this as the ones I have found are getting on a bit and my question seems to be rather removed from them. I am soon returning to AG after a massive break and am a bit rusty. I have a very old Electrim boiler and years ago would mash in it then sparge with sufficient water to bring the volume in it to the required level for boiling at the rate of 5l per kg. of malt but to a max of 20l as I was nervous about a bigger boil. See picture attached. The instructions for the 23l litre AG kit I have bought require 16l of water for the mash but also 16l for the sparge which even allowing for water retained in the grain and some boil off would result in more than 23l. Apart from that I do not think I can boil more than 20l or possibly 22l absolute max. Something is wrong somewhere (probably me) though I would add that most of the AG I did years ago turned out fine so help please!View attachment 38881
Mash with 10 to 12 litres of liquor, heat up the rest of the liquor you need to 80 C. Only you know your boil off rate, you will lose around 3.5 to 4 litres of absorption. Top up to the 20 litres you are comfortable with, the water you have left over from the sparge water is sterile so that can go straight into the fermenter to make it up to 23 litres.
 
Yes that would work also just do your mash in a bag (BIAB) and sparge it in a different vessel then add to your other wort and boil, If you have too much as it would need approx 28 litres to boil down to 23ltrs then just add the sparge wort a little at a time as you boil and it evaporates. This is to make sure all the wort is boiled and therefore sterile
Ok thanks that's helpful and that presupposes a boil off rate of about 18% per hour which I did not know and gives a good indication of how I should proceed.đź‘Ť
 
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