Kettle sludge question

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shlap
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Kettle sludge question

Post by shlap »

I just finished my 1st all-grain batch today with help from BTP. Excellent software guys, I love it! I have two question though...

Kettle Volume: 6.1 Gallons
Wort Duration Boil: 1 hour
Evaporation Loss: .85 gallons
Water Volume Added: 2 quarts

1.) BTP says that my Final Volume would be 5.54 gallons but I ended up with 5. I'm sure this because of all the hop sludge at the bottom that I left out of the primary. Is there some way to take "sludge" into account when figuring the final volume? It's not that important but it does affect the alcohol/IBU calculations.

2.) When figuring OG, should I have taken the reading before or after I added the 2 quarts of water. I took it before.

Thanks for a great product!
Last edited by shlap on Mon Mar 05, 2007 12:13 am, edited 1 time in total.
shlap
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Post by shlap »

OK, question #3. Why have the font formatting buttons like Bold, Italic, Underline, etc if BBCode is turned off?
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Post by jeff »

shlap wrote:OK, question #3. Why have the font formatting buttons like Bold, Italic, Underline, etc if BBCode is turned off?
All new forum accounts are on restriction for the first 48 hours to discourage spam.
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just-cj
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Re: Kettle sludge question

Post by just-cj »

shlap wrote:2.) When figuring OG, should I have taken the reading before or after I added the 2 quarts of water. I took it before.
If you added water, you take your OG after mixing in the water thoroughly.
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Post by slothrob »

To account for volume loss due to racking, use the Display>Volume Adjustments on the right side of the main window.

If you took your gravity reading before dilution, you can still calculate your actual OG.
(gravity reading)x(pre-dilution volume)/(post-dilution volume)=OG
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Re: Kettle sludge question

Post by ColoradoBrewer »

shlap wrote:1.) BTP says that my Final Volume would be 5.54 gallons but I ended up with 5. I'm sure this because of all the hop sludge at the bottom that I left out of the primary. Is there some way to take "sludge" into account when figuring the final volume? It's not that important but it does affect the alcohol/IBU calculations.
Every system has losses that need to be accounted for. BTP has no way of knowing what they are. You have to tell it. Have you measured these and plugged them into the software? If you look in the drop down list uner the beer glass you can select Volume Adjustments to account for some of your losses. Also, under Equipment > Vessels you can account for the dead space in your HLT and MT. Once that is done BTP should give the correct volumes. Once last thing I do to account for trub is to up the batch size. If I want five gallons I'll scale the recipe for 5.5 or six gallons.

HTH,
John
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Re: Kettle sludge question

Post by bzwrxbz »

shlap wrote:
1.) BTP says that my Final Volume would be 5.54 gallons but I ended up with 5. I'm sure this because of all the hop sludge at the bottom that I left out of the primary. Is there some way to take "sludge" into account when figuring the final volume? It's not that important but it does affect the alcohol/IBU calculations.
I am not sure i understand, why would leaving some hops/water in the kettle after the pour into the fermenter affect IBU and alcohol calculations? Just curious, for I would not have thought this to be the case.

The water volume added textbox can go into negative numbers, so you could possibly put in -0.5 gallons into that textbox. Maybe this will work for you.

cheers!
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Bottled : Too many bottles

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Re: Kettle sludge question

Post by slothrob »

bzwrxbz wrote:I am not sure i understand, why would leaving some hops/water in the kettle after the pour into the fermenter affect IBU and alcohol calculations? Just curious, for I would not have thought this to be the case.

The water volume added textbox can go into negative numbers, so you could possibly put in -0.5 gallons into that textbox. Maybe this will work for you.
Actually, adjusting the volume this way WILL affect the % alchohol calculation, because the program will assume the negative volume addition is boil-off.
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Re: Kettle sludge question

Post by bzwrxbz »

slothrob wrote: Actually, adjusting the volume this way WILL affect the % alchohol calculation, because the program will assume the negative volume addition is boil-off.
Sure, this is probably true... but on a side note, leaving hops (with water volume) in the kettle should not affect the alcohol and IBU levels of the final beer, I believe. Someone correct me if I am wrong.

cheers!
Fermenting : Ordinary Bitter, Hefe
Bottled : Too many bottles

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Post by just-cj »

It will affect the IBU calculations if that volume isn't properly accounted for. In other words, if you (or BTP) thinks that there's 5.5 gallons because that's how much you put in the formula but actually there's 6 gallons in your brewpot after the boil with a half gallon getting left behind, then your IBUs will be calculated based on 6 gallons, which will result in a number that's lower than actual IBUs. But IBU calculations are estimates anyway, and it's not going to throw things off that much -- so in a sense, you're right. :wink:
shlap
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Post by shlap »

slothrob wrote:To account for volume loss due to racking, use the Display>Volume Adjustments on the right side of the main window.

If you took your gravity reading before dilution, you can still calculate your actual OG.
(gravity reading)x(pre-dilution volume)/(post-dilution volume)=OG
Thanks for the formula! What volume measurement is that? Gallons/quarts/liters?
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Post by just-cj »

It shouldn't matter, as long as you use the same units both pre and post.
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Post by shlap »

I topped off with .5 gallons of water. Using gallons as a measurment, I took:

1.056 x 4.5 / 5 = .9504

What am I doing wrong?

Thanks!
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Post by shlap »

If I take the 1 off of the gravity reading I get

.056 x 4.5 / 5 = .0504 -- is this 1.050 ?
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Post by just-cj »

Use just the gravity points, so in your example your gravity points reading is 56. Put it into the formula, and you end up with 50.4 -- which means 1.050. 8)
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