Hello, I am VERY new to homebrewing and starting with one gallon batches. I was looking at 1 gallon batch recipes and saw a volume measurement at the bottom of the mash profile of 11.3 quarts(10.7 l). Can someone explain what this volume refers to? Thanks for any and all help!
It would probably help if you could post the recipe. ETA: Since you are VERY new to homebrewing, have you read "How to Brew" yet?
If these recipes are online it would help to link to them. If they're not online, perhaps you could copy and paste them here? I can't think of any reason such a large volume would be cited in a recipe for a one gallon batch.
I think the OP is referring to the ginger saison recipe, and in particular the version of it that is in the recipe PDF (here's the link). The HTML version of the recipe (link) calls for 10.7 liters but does not mention quarts. It's a 90-minute boil so maybe the recipe assumes a pretty high boil-off rate? I haven't done the math, but I guess it's not totally outlandish.
After perusing a couple recipes I found this back ‘n forth in the comments, which likely applies to the recipe @jonomanley82 is using: User: Hello – I am ready to make this but basically it says to use 2.5 gallons of water? Is that correct? I don’t normally use that much water on a 5 gallon brew. Thanks! Admin: Hi Nichol, that’s right. But that’s because we’re using the entire water volume from the start, as this is a BIAB all-grain recipe. It’s designed to yield 1.3 gallons, and assumes water loses to grain absorption and the boil. The link you provided supports that where it says on page 3, "These are 1.3 gallon, all-grain, BIAB (Brew-in-a-bag) recipes."
So, basically just extra water for the assumption that most of the excess will be boiled off for a 1-1.3 gallon final volume...
Extra for boil-off + water that is absorbed by the grains and stays with them after removing and draining the BIAB grain bag. To clarify, VikeMan is referring to an actual book named How To Brew. < < link to an abbreviated online old version.
