Wort sieving problem

[Mungri]

Made my first full size (23ltr) AG brew last weekend using biab in a peco boiler.
It was a Jaipur clone recipe using 140g pellet hops in total through the boil.
Everything went well until it came to getting the wort from the peco into my fv.
Had the bright idea of using a hop filter bag over the peco tap. Worked for 3 seconds (literally), bag filled with hop debris.
Switched to sieve using my mash bag doubled up as an extra filter. This took forever and I only ended up with 19ltrs in the fv.
Should I be letting more through to drop out whilst fermenting?
Surely 140g of hops can't account for 5ltrs lost liquid from boiler to fv.
Any advice appreciated.

 

[whealsie]

Is the 23l before you account for grain absorption and evaporation during the boil? I lose approximately 3 or 4 litres during the boil, and the grain will absorb (from memory) around 600ml per kg.


I love the smell of mashing in the morning.

 

[Leon103]

It was a 4l lose. You may want to check the markings on the side of your peco, mine are out.

 

[Covrich]

Is this your first go with your peco?

 

[Mungri]

It was a 4l lose. You may want to check the markings on the side of your peco, mine are out.[/QUOTE
Good point. I should have checked before brewing.

 

[Mungri]

Is this your first go with your peco?

Yes it was my first go. I didn't think it would be perfect, but the peco must be miles out .
I will check when I get home from work.
Question still stands though, is filtering through my mash bag fine enough?
Thanks, Ian.

 

[Mungri]

Is the 23l before you account for grain absorption and evaporation during the boil? I lose approximately 3 or 4 litres during the boil, and the grain will absorb (from memory) around 600ml per kg.


I love the smell of mashing in the morning.

It was 27.5ltrs before the boil and 24 after the boil.I was winging it a bit with the biab. I used geterbrewed's water calculations from the instructions that came with my peco biab starter kit.
Great kit for the price by the way.

 

[Covrich]

Filtering through mash bag is fine, some people do not filter at all and chuck it all in.. or you could upgrade to a better hop filter / tap on the peco.

To be honest you will always need to perhaps trial and error the water amounts.. 5L lost to trub seems .. a lot though.. you will probably still lose some to evap on the cooldown. 140 grams of hops may still take a liter or so of hops..

I think Leons suggestion of calibrating everything with the correct makings may help you.. Also put your details into some software so it should help you meausre water for different grail bills hop bills and boil times.

 

[Mungri]

Filtering through mash bag is fine, some people do not filter at all and chuck it all in.. or you could upgrade to a better hop filter / tap on the peco.

To be honest you will always need to perhaps trial and error the water amounts.. 5L lost to trub seems .. a lot though.. you will probably still lose some to evap on the cooldown. 140 grams of hops may still take a liter or so of hops..

I think Leons suggestion of calibrating everything with the correct makings may help you.. Also put your details into some software so it should help you meausre water for different grail bills hop bills and boil times.

Cheers Covrich
The filtering part is what I really wanted to make sure I am getting right.
First job when home is calibrate the peco.
Hit my sg target fine, so I've still got 19ltrs of hopefully nice beer to look forward to.
Thanks for everyones help. This forum is invaluable to me.:thumb:

 

[Mungri]

It was a 4l lose. You may want to check the markings on the side of your peco, mine are out.

Only 3.5ltrs out by the 25ltr Mark!!! And there was I thinking my mash efficiency was great.
When they say it can take 33ltrs, that must be right to the brim.
That aside the boiler worked well. I will get it right next time.
Thanks for the info Leon.

 

[Poochops]

When you calibrate your buckets and boiler think about what you're going to calibrate it with, I bought a 2.5 litre plastic jug to use and the markings were way off on that too! Calibrated that first by weighing 500g of water at a time to mark on 1/2 litre increments onto the jug, it held 3litres with space to spare. It's a pain but once it's done at least you can rely on your calcs.

 

[Fil]

also a 30 minute post chill rest to allow hop and break material to settle somewhat before you drain helps a lot.

 

[Mungri]

When you calibrate your buckets and boiler think about what you're going to calibrate it with, I bought a 2.5 litre plastic jug to use and the markings were way off on that too! Calibrated that first by weighing 500g of water at a time to mark on 1/2 litre increments onto the jug, it held 3litres with space to spare. It's a pain but once it's done at least you can rely on your calcs.

I used a Pyrex glass jug to calibrate. Just weighed 1/2ltr and the jug is thankfully marked correctly. :thumb:Good job as I've marked my peco up with the new measurements.

 

[Mungri]

also a 30 minute post chill rest to allow hop and break material to settle somewhat before you drain helps a lot.

Cheers Fil
This recipe called for hops at flame out. So that would be flame out hops for however long ( recipe didn't give a time for this), wort chilled and left for another 30mins?

 

[Duxuk]

I filter the wort using a piece of net curtain big enough to line the FV. I boil it briefly for hygiene purposes, let the wort into the FV then hoist the net curtain and let it drain. It catches a lot of the hop and other solid material. A quick rinse and the net curtains back on the windows before the wife gets home! Well the last bit I made up.

 

[Mungri]

I filter the wort using a piece of net curtain big enough to line the FV. I boil it briefly for hygiene purposes, let the wort into the FV then hoist the net curtain and let it drain. It catches a lot of the hop and other solid material. A quick rinse and the net curtains back on the windows before the wife gets home! Well the last bit I made up.

Hope your nets are brown. She mightn't notice then.:whistle:
Similar to what I ended up doing using my mashing bag doubled up over a sieve.
As long as I know I'm not letting too much through I''ll keep filtering this way from now on.

 

[Leon103]

Only 3.5ltrs out by the 25ltr Mark!!! And there was I thinking my mash efficiency was great.
When they say it can take 33ltrs, that must be right to the brim.
That aside the boiler worked well. I will get it right next time.
Thanks for the info Leon.

No problem, its just a shame they couldn't get a guide that suited the shape of the boiler.