There are multiple ways to brew All grain beer and numerous types of equipment set up. Different systems and brewing methods will vary in the outcome of the calculations for water used. This is a guide to the simple system I use. To get accurate measurement and calculations for a different set ups then adjustments need to be made to volumes and temperatures.
Contents
Equipment used
- HLT: A plastic pail with a domestic immersion heater
- MLT: A converted cooler with a copper manifold and ball valve spigot
- Kettle: A converted keg
- Heat source : A 30,000 BTU propane burner.
Recipe
- Hobgoblin Clone
- 4.80 kg Maris Otter Pale (2 Row) UK
- 0.25 kg Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L
- 0.20 kg Cara-Pils/Dextrine
- 0.15 kg Chocolate Malt
- 45.00 gm Styrian Goldings
- 45.00 gm Fuggles
- Danstar Nottingham Dry Yeast (1 pack)
Method
Preparations
Pre Boil a kettle of water and leave to cool. (For yeast hydration)
Calculations
You need to know several things before brewing. These can be calculated with brewing software, a spread sheet or by hand. You need to know how much water you will need for mashing and sparging.
The get this figure I need to know that for a 60 minute boil I will loose wort due to evaporation, hop absorption and kettle dead space. To get 23L in the fermenter I need to start with 30L of wort
For this recipe you have a total grain bill of 5.40kg and with a recommended mash ratio of 2.6l/kg then 14L of mash water will be required. With my system the grain will absorb water and there is some dead space in the mash tun, this comes to around 9L. So the first runnings from my mash will be around 6L. This means I need to sparge with an additional 24L
Set up the brewing equipment
Set up you HLT, MLT and Kettle.
Heat the sparge water
heat 14L of water to 77°C this take me around 30 minutes and gives time to prepare my grain and hops.
Weigh the ingredients
If you weigh and lay out all you ingredients then it's less likely that you will forget a step in the brewing process.
Mashing
- Make sure the manifold is secured correctly
- Make sure the tap is closed
- Make sure the mash water is at the correct temp
- Add the grain to the mash tun
- Add the water to the mash tun and stir to make sure all the grain is wetted, don't forget the corners
- Check the temperature to make sure it is 68°C
- Close the lid and leave for 60 minutes
The time the mash takes can be used to mix a container of sanitiser and rehydrate the yeast
Rehydrate the yeast
Sanitise a glass, add the preboiled water, sprinkle on the yeast, cover with plastic wrap and leave in a warm place until rewuired)
