Dick's Elixir Wheat Porter Session notes

My last all-grain batch went off a little. I didn't have enough sparge water.

This time, the exact opposite. I added 3 gallons of 130° F water to get the grains to 116° for 20 minutes. The mash was soupy.

Next, I added 2 gallons of 200° water to get it to 146° (6 degrees below my target, although it did eventually rise to 151°.). I had a mash tun full of water. It looked like a huge pint glass of stout--black liguid and a tan foam.

Then I took ProMash's advice sparged with 7 gallons of 170° water and collected eight or nine gallons of wort. I boiled for two hours trying to evaporate down to 6 gallons, but didn't make it. I wound up pouring 1 gallon or so onto the ground because it wouldn't fit into the fermenter. This got me an OG of 1042 instead of 1073.

How did I wind up in such a state of affairs? I consulted two brewing sources and made one error during the sparge.

First, I consulted The Master, who said I should use 1.2 quarts per pound of grain at 130° to get my protein rest at 122°. Then I should add half a quart per pound or 200° water to raise my temp by 15°. I did some quick math and learned that would put about 5 gallons of water into my mash tun. I also consulted The Guru, who said I should use 2 quarts per pound of water!

Then, during the sparge, for some reason, I decided that I had to use all the sparge water instead of just sparging until I collected 7 gallons!

The other night, I listened to The Session on The Brewing Network for July 23, 2006, The Honesty and All Grain Show, and have learned I can do it with as little as a quart per pound.

Or I could just brew extract.

Or I could just go to the fucking liquor store.