6 gallons becomes 5.5 gallons?

Discussion in 'Homebrewing' started by Curmudgeon, Jul 20, 2014.

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  1. Curmudgeon

    Curmudgeon Savant (1,110) May 29, 2014 Massachusetts
    BA4LYFE Society

    Reading "Brewing Classic Styles" and came across this method a few times and I can't make sense of it:
    That all makes sense except for the 5.5 gallons part. You'd be pouring 6 gallons to the fermenter, right? Why would only 5.5 make it in? Are they just giving a rough estimate because you can't be exact with water boil off? But if that were the case they could say "around 6". I'm nitpicking but maybe there's something with that .5 gallons that I'm missing. Anyone have any idea on this? Thanks!
     
    #1 Curmudgeon, Jul 20, 2014
  2. ThomP

    ThomP Initiate (0) Nov 22, 2007 Texas

    They assume you are not adding the break material and hops into the fermentor. Which now we are finding out that it makes a "better" beer.
     
    #2 ThomP, Jul 20, 2014
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  3. Curmudgeon

    Curmudgeon Savant (1,110) May 29, 2014 Massachusetts
    BA4LYFE Society

    Interesting. You say "...now we are finding...". Is keeping the break material out of the fermenter a relatively new idea? I haven't seen this in "How to Brew" yet (still haven't finished).

    Thanks for that ThomP!
     
    #3 Curmudgeon, Jul 20, 2014
  4. PapaGoose03

    PapaGoose03 Grand High Pooh-Bah (6,057) May 30, 2005 Michigan
    BA4LYFE Society Pooh-Bah

    It sounds to me like they give up a half gallon of the wort to trub twice in that paragraph. I think it's an error.
     
    #4 PapaGoose03, Jul 20, 2014
  5. ThomP

    ThomP Initiate (0) Nov 22, 2007 Texas

    #5 ThomP, Jul 20, 2014
  6. koopa

    koopa Initiate (0) Apr 20, 2008 New Jersey

    Its not an error. Its an allowance for trub / hop / deadspace / transfer losses from boil kettle to fermenter and trub / hop / transfer losses from fermenter to final packaging. Of course each recipe / brewing system will vary slightly with regards to such losses, but I assume they are giving general advice. On my system, for example, I tend to finish with 12 gallons in the boil kettle, 11 (super hoppy beers) to 11.5 gallons make it into Fermenters, and 9.75 (super hoppy beers) to 10 gallons make it into kegs.
     
    #6 koopa, Jul 20, 2014
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  7. FATC1TY

    FATC1TY Pooh-Bah (2,564) Feb 12, 2012 Georgia
    Pooh-Bah

    It's called, "kettle loss".

    I brew 6.5 gallons, because I leave atleast .5 gallon in my kettle after I pump it out, and then I leave atleast another half gallon or so in the fermenter to give me the 5-5.5 I'm desiring for packaged beer.

    It will change with each beer, as if I'm brewing up a large DIPA or something with alot of hops, I'll have more trub that I leave back, so I brew more for the anticipated losses.
     
    #7 FATC1TY, Jul 20, 2014
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  8. Kirbmeister

    Kirbmeister Initiate (0) Jul 20, 2014 Minnesota

    What volume do you start your boil with for a beer like that?
    forget that question...I should have read the earlier posts first.
     
    #8 Kirbmeister, Jul 20, 2014
    Last edited: Jul 20, 2014
  9. FATC1TY

    FATC1TY Pooh-Bah (2,564) Feb 12, 2012 Georgia
    Pooh-Bah


    It would depend on several things, like your boil off rate, your kettle loss, you anticipated fermenter loss. Are you doing full boils, and needing to top off, are you extract or all grain. How long is your boil, etc.
     
    #9 FATC1TY, Jul 20, 2014
  10. VikeMan

    VikeMan Grand Pooh-Bah (3,067) Jul 12, 2009 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah

    It depends on the recipe, your equipment, and your process. Decent brewing software will have parameters for each type of loss you can experience. You can dial-in these parameters to your equipment/process to a very high degree repeatability.
     
    #10 VikeMan, Jul 20, 2014
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