Im about to brew my second extract batch. My first batch was a little light on the water and I came up short of my 5 gallon target by about 1/2 a gallon (beer still came out solid). So I want to be a little more vigilant this time around in figuring out how much water I need to start with. Ive been playing around with Brewers Friend and when I put in 5 gallons as my target batch size, and 3 gallons as my boil size (as well as my extract, grain, and hops), its says that my total water requirement is 6.99 gallons. I feel like this is high, I was thinking it should be more around 6 gallons. It says that out of the 3 gallons I am going to boil that 1.5 gallons will boil off, this seems like a lot as this much definitely did not boil off with my first batch. Does this sound right to you guys? Do you guys really boil off 1.5 gallons in a 60 minute boil? Have any of you experienced this with Brewers Friend? Suggestions? On a side note, why is it that DME yields such a higher ABV in comparison to LME? Thank you for any help or input, appreciated.
On a side note, why is it that DME yields such a higher ABV in comparison to LME? LME has water in it, DME does not. DME has more sugar per pound, much less water.
DME is more concentrated than LME. they are basically the same, the big difference that much of the moisture has been removed from the DME. therefore, one pound of DME is proportioanlly more malt than one pound of LME. 1# DME = 1.25# LME. there are plenty of online conversion calculators if you need one. keep in mind too that different brands of malt extract will yield different fermentables. Cheers.
15-20% of water loss due to evaporation seems to be the average on these boards. You will also lose some as it's mixed with the trub in the bottom of your primary. You will also lose some racking from primary to secondary and secondary to bottling bucket.
Thanks for the replies guys. Yeah see 15-20% loss to evaporation sounds right, which would be about 1/2 a gallon. Don't know why Brewers Friend is saying 1.5 gallons.
Everyone's boiloff rates are different, due to how vigorous the boil is, the configuration of the pot, etc. The trick is to discover the rate for your system and calculate from there. Also, FWIW I found that a boiloff rate expressed in 'gallons per hour' is more useful (and reliable) than a rate expressed in '% per hour'. A pot with 5 gallons of wort doesn't boil away the volume twice as fast as the same pot with 2.5 gallons.
Hi, Larry here from Brewer's Friend. You can adjust the boil off rate by going into your account under the Profile link, then Equipment Settings tab. There are a lot of variables you can control in addition to boil off rate, these include kettle dead space, grain absorption, etc. 1.5 gallons per hour is the default setting, and is normally what we experienced on a propane burner. If you are on a stove top, it will be less. Re VikeMan: agreed, the units are in terms of quarts per hour, not % per hour, as quarts per hour makes more sense.
