Holy Boil-off Batman! Only 4 gal from 6.5 gallon boil?

So my 2nd all-grain batch didn't exactly go as planned. My first AG batch two weeks ago I miscalculated and only got 6 gallons into the brewpot, and 4.5 into the fermenter. My efficiency calculated at 68%.

This week I thought I calculated the sparge better, and after two batch sparges I sent 6.5 gallons to the brewpot. I dunno if I boiled it like a madman or something, but I only got FOUR GALLONS into the fermenter. Could I really have boiled off 2.5 gallons in 80 minutes?

To make matters worse, the OG was only 1.051 on that 4 gallons, giving me an efficiency of only 58%. (BTW, I thought the crush from the supplier looked way too coarse. If I'd been a more experience brewer, I probably would have recalculated the hops back a little anticipating a low OG.) So I've ended up with an American Pale Ale with an OG of 1.051 (which is OK I guess) but a calculated IBU 76.6!

Maybe it's a good thing there are only 4 gallons of this stuff. Hold me and tell me it'll be OK.

Entirely possible, I'd say back off on the boil a bit.

I don't know about holding you, but I'm sure it will be ok.

I routinely boil off 2.5 gallons in the summer (60minute boil), If your pot is big enough you can adjust for it.

hot didgity damn...do u turn your propane up to full blow?

fat x nub said:

hot didgity damn...do u turn your propane up to full blow?

Click to expand...

No, It's actually fairly low. I just try to keep a rolling boil. It was sort of breezy today so maybe that was part of it.

Also, I''m already seeing a really large amount of trub settling, more than I'd expect. I'll be lucky to get 3.25 gallons of clear beer out of this batch. Geez.

StunnedMonkey said:

No, It's actually fairly low. I just try to keep a rolling boil. It was sort of breezy today so maybe that was part of it.

Also, I''m already seeing a really large amount of trub settling, more than I'd expect. I'll be lucky to get 3.25 gallons of clear beer out of this batch. Geez.

Click to expand...

ouch...well as long as it a great tasting 3.25 gallons than thats worth it to me

fat x nub said:

ouch...well as long as it a great tasting 3.25 gallons than thats worth it to me

Click to expand...

That "great tasting" part seems sort of unlikely at this point.

You know, 15 years ago when I used to brew extracts I routinely made 3 gallon batches. Of course, back then I did it on purpose.

I usually shoot for 7.5 gallons into the kettle, boil off 2 in 60 minutes, and get about 5.5 into the fermenter. I try to keep a nice rolling boil, nothing outrageous.

I've been getting a pretty similar experience too. I topped one off, without thinking and put the OG about 8 points below what I was shooting for. Guess my oktoberfest will have a bit less kick to it this year. Finished right on mark if that counts for anything.

What I have resulted with is collecting some extra off the lauter tun and adding it in later. It is expecially neccesary for me with recipies involving pilsner malt. I too would end up getting around 4.5 gallons if I let it go uncorrected for the whole 90 minutes. I collect an extra gallon or so usually and top it off right after the first hop addition at 60 minutes. I use a turkey fryer, and getting much more than 6.5 gallons in there is dicy at times. I make the addition right after the hops try to boil me over instead of before so as to have a little less volume to work with.

That is about right. I usually boil off 2.5 gallons also. just readjust sparge volumes for a higher preboil volume. Check your crush and your ph. 5.2 stabilizer gave me 6% better eff.

beerthirty said:

That is about right. I usually boil off 2.5 gallons also. just readjust sparge volumes for a higher preboil volume. Check your crush and your ph. 5.2 stabilizer gave me 6% better eff.

Click to expand...

Yeah, I'm sure the crush was bad. I even thought so before I started, and I'm a newbie. It was crushed by a well-known online supplier.

Check out this trub. Now granted it's only been in the carboy 90 minutes and will no doubt settle out some more, but this still seems to me to be a freakish level of trub at this point. And I left a good half-gallon of crud and hops in the brewpot. This was just what was suspended. Whaddya think?

just wait till you see it boiling from the yeast activity. then it will look really strange. But it will all settle as the yeast stop working.

Yeah, I did that too a couple of weeks ago. I had no idea beersmith was going to be off by so much with the evaporation rate. Next time I'll up my sparge amounts and top up in the bk if necessary.

this happens to me a lot in my big pot. i haven't etched in markings for the volume and it likes to boil off a little too fast...still trying to pin it down.

when i made my recent Russian Imperial Stout, it came 3.25 gallons and 1.140 OG!!! i just ran to the 24 hour Longs and bought two gallons of distilled water and dumped it in. problem solved.

DeathBrewer said:

...when i made my recent Russian Imperial Stout, it came 3.25 gallons and 1.140 OG!!! i just ran to the 24 hour Longs and bought two gallons of distilled water and dumped it in. problem solved.

Click to expand...

Yeah, I considered topping this off with another gallon of water, but due to the poor efficiency I was already looking at 1.051 with the 4 gallons...about what I expected with 5. The problem is that now the hops are out of whack at 76 IBU's, per Beersmith. Topping off would have probably gotten me 1.040/64. Under the circumstances, I decided to leave it as it was.

On the plus side, it's alreaday fermenting like a mofo. So that's something.

DeathBrewer said:

this happens to me a lot in my big pot. i haven't etched in markings for the volume and it likes to boil off a little too fast...still trying to pin it down.

when i made my recent Russian Imperial Stout, it came 3.25 gallons and 1.140 OG!!! i just ran to the 24 hour Longs and bought two gallons of distilled water and dumped it in. problem solved.

Click to expand...

DeathBrewer; this is BrewBeemer in Alameda.
I wanted to know what Russian Imperial Stout recipe you used and when it's ready. Old Rasputin in my left hand as I type this unless the wife sticks another Black Butte Porter 6'er is in the frig.