kierank Posted January 20, 2016 Share Posted January 20, 2016 Hi guys, I have a few 15lt cubes hanging around and I was wondering if I can store my wort in them. I have a 50lt beer keg as my kettle and when I make up an all grain brew using between 5.5 to 6.0 kg of grain I end up with nearly 25lt. of wort at around 1056 to 1060 s.g. My question is what s.g. would i need to get to at the end of boil so as to add 5lt of water to fill my 2, 15lt cubes and end up with a s.g. of around 1056 and how much extra grain would I need to add to my mash. I could add extra water pre boil but am afraid that when I get to the hot break I could have a disaster on my hands. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beerlust Posted January 20, 2016 Share Posted January 20, 2016 In your brewing software, adjust your ferment volume up from 25 litres to 35 litres (the added 2 x 5 litre water additions). That should get you close to figuring out how much extra grain you'll need to achieve a post boil gravity high enough, that when diluted down with your water additions, will hit the OG mark(s) you are looking for once combined in the cube. I know there are some efficiency based issues that occur with higher gravity all-grain brewing, but I'll leave that for those with more experience in that area to explain. * Edit: My question is what s.g. would i need to get to at the end of boil so as to add 5lt of water to fill my 2' date=' 15lt cubes and end up with a s.g. of around 1056 [/quote']My apologies, I just re-read your post & realized the final volume is obviously 30 litres (2 x 15 litre cubes), so adjust your ferment volume in the brewing software from 25 litres to 30 litres, not 35 as I previously suggested. Cheers, Lusty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porschemad911 Posted January 20, 2016 Share Posted January 20, 2016 I would just lower your efficiency by 5% to start with (eg from 75% to 70%), then adjust from there over the course of a few batches. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted January 20, 2016 Share Posted January 20, 2016 I'm actually confused as to what you want to do exactly. Do you simply want to brew 30L of wort to fill two 15 litre cubes with? You mention adding 5 litres of water to the cubes? What OG and volume are you looking for in the fermenter itself? Given the cubes expand and can actually hold a litre or two more than they're rated for, you will probably want more like 32 or 33 litres to fill them both. Add in the trub loss in the kettle and you're up to around 35 or 36 litres post boil in the keggle. Which means you're probably starting with upwards of 40 litres pre-boil. Not sure if that would cause you issues at the hot break part of the process or not.. 10 litres seems a fair bit of space, I usually have about 6-7 litres space in my urn when I get to the hot break and it doesn't even threaten to escape. I understand a gas setup is different but you could control the heat at this point to keep it under control, or there is a product called Fermcap-S that stops boilovers as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kierank Posted January 21, 2016 Author Share Posted January 21, 2016 I am sure you guys have seen these 15lt cubes of wort at your LHBS. I was curious to know if it was possible to do the same. The SG of the wort in these cubes is around 1056 and to make up your brew you add 5lt of water which takes the SG down to around 1044. My thinking is that with a bit more grain and water will I be able to produce two brews on my brew day instead of one?????? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted January 21, 2016 Share Posted January 21, 2016 I am sure you guys have seen these 15lt cubes of wort at your LHBS. I was curious to know if it was possible to do the same. The SG of the wort in these cubes is around 1056 and to make up your brew you add 5lt of water which takes the SG down to around 1044. My thinking is that with a bit more grain and water will I be able to produce two brews on my brew day instead of one?????? Ok, that makes more sense now. I see no reason why you can't do that. If you're using brewing software, simply change your ferment volume to say, 33 litres (to allow for the extra the cubes can hold), and then scale all ingredients up to maintain the 1.056-1.060 SG that you're currently getting with your 25 litre sizes. All other things being the same, you'll need to add an extra 8-9 litres of water at the beginning if you are doing BIAB, or however much will get you a pre-boil volume that results in about 35 litres post boil (to allow for trub in the kettle). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kierank Posted January 27, 2016 Author Share Posted January 27, 2016 Hi guys thanks for your input. had a brew day today and all went well, ended up with 2 x15 lt cubes full at S.G. 1060. thanks again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porschemad911 Posted January 27, 2016 Share Posted January 27, 2016 Nice work! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted January 27, 2016 Share Posted January 27, 2016 Glad it worked out mate! Hope you took notes of all the volumes etc. so you can repeat it when you want to Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kierank Posted January 30, 2016 Author Share Posted January 30, 2016 Always keep records of what I have done in case I fluke it. Going to have another crack at it on Tue. Going for a pilsner this time. Will let you know if I get the same result. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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