4 replies to this topic

[VirginiaBeach]

Hey guys, I'm brewing tomorrow morning with my new cooker. It's a Bayou Classic SP10 20 PSI, 155,000 BTU cooker. I've run it a few time to burn off the black paint but never enough to calculate how much water I'll lose during the boil. I'm going for 5 gallons of brew with approximately 1.080 OG in a 30 qt stock pot for a 45-60 minute boil. I obviously won't run the burner at full blast, just enough to keep the boil. Can anyone give me a ballpark amount of water to start with to end up with 5 gallons?Thanks...

[stellarbrew]

Hey guys, I'm brewing tomorrow morning with my new cooker. It's a Bayou Classic SP10 20 PSI, 155,000 BTU cooker. I've run it a few time to burn off the black paint but never enough to calculate how much water I'll lose during the boil. I'm going for 5 gallons of brew with approximately 1.080 OG in a 30 qt stock pot for a 45-60 minute boil. I obviously won't run the burner at full blast, just enough to keep the boil. Can anyone give me a ballpark amount of water to start with to end up with 5 gallons?Thanks...

If you keep a normal rolling boil, you'll probably lose betewen 1 and 1 1/2 gallons over an hour. So, maybe start with 6.5 gallons.

[MyaCullen]

Hey guys, I'm brewing tomorrow morning with my new cooker. It's a Bayou Classic SP10 20 PSI, 155,000 BTU cooker. I've run it a few time to burn off the black paint but never enough to calculate how much water I'll lose during the boil. I'm going for 5 gallons of brew with approximately 1.080 OG in a 30 qt stock pot for a 45-60 minute boil. I obviously won't run the burner at full blast, just enough to keep the boil. Can anyone give me a ballpark amount of water to start with to end up with 5 gallons?Thanks...

I am guessing form past experience using a 30 qt pot , and boiling off to 5 gallons, that you are going to need roughly 7 gallons, a tight fit. If you don't have any foam control drops, keep a damned close eye on that pot, it WILL boil over, no if's and's or butts.I always kept my hose and spryaer handy, to lightly spray into the top of the kettle.

[3rd party JKor]

15% per hour is a good estimate if you keep the heat low enough to just maintain a rolling boil. I'd shoot for 6.5-7. Also, for a 5 gallon batch, you probably want your post boil volume to be 5.5-6 gallons. That way you can leave ~1/2 gallon in the kettle with the trub and 1/2 gallon in the fermenter and still end up with 5 gallons of finished beer.

[Jimmy James]

In addition to the above solid advice, I find that evaporation rates vary significantly with temperature and relative humidity which tend to go hand in hand around my place. Always better to aim high and shoot low.