How many bottles can I get out of a 5 gallon batch?

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TravelBastard

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I'm sorry if this has been discussed before but I didn't see anything when I tried to search.

Anyways, I just bottled my first batch and I only got 38 bottles out of it. Is this normal? Here is my process:

I kept the wort in my primary and moved it to my secondary after about 2 weeks. I know I lost a bit there because I didn't syphon all of the sludge at the bottom out of the primary (I didn't think I was supposed to since my syphon kept getting clogged) I also started off with my Ale Pale exactly at the 5 gallon mark.

Any advice or pointers would be great. I'd like to know how to get the most out of my beer. Thanks everyone :mug:
 
You would typically get 50-53 12oz. bottles out of a 5 gallon brew. Did you top off your wort with water after you cooled it? IMO, it's no big deal. I only got 48 12oz. bottles out of my last batch.
 
That seems like a lot of loss, are they all 12 oz bottles? I usually get 47-53 out of mine.

I certainly don't siphon the trub, but I try to get as much as I can by tilting the bucket a little, and stop the siphon as soon as I see stuff getting sucked in. It really isn't a big deal though, certainly not worth diluting the beer for the sake of a few bottles. I use bulk extract and usually add just a little extra to my recipes so I can top off to 5.5 gallons without throwing off my SG.
 
I get 2 cases and AT LEAST another 6 pack using my dip tune in bottling bucket setup...that means at least 54 12 ounce bottles.

dip1.jpg


It only leaves about 4 ounces of beer (mostly goop) behind.

dip2.jpg


SInce putting that in, I've never had to tilt the boucket ever again.

The thing is, honestly, once you have a pipeline of good beer flowing, one or two or 6 bottles less won't matter..it's better to have fewer bottles of great beer than a lot of bottles of SH@tty beer....and some recipes are going to have a LOT of trub...and some aren't...Every batch will vary. and actually, when you have several batches at different parts of the fermentation cycle going, a few ounces here and their won't really matter to you....
 
Sounds like you're using 500ml or 16oz sized bottles. I usually get between 34 and 37 bottles. If I take a number of samples it adds up and I get fewer bottles. :drunk::mug:
 
If you brew exactly 5g, you will get 53 12 oz bottles if you bottle everything in the fermenter.
If you use larger bottles, you will get fewer.
If you leave any trub in the fermenter, you will get fewer.
If you use a secondary, you will get fewer because you will leave some in the primary, and some more in the secondary
If you take hydrometer samples, you will get fewer
If you don't completely drain the bottling bucket, you will get ferwe. As Hoss says, those samples can add up.
If I use 12 oz bottles, I usually get 50 - 53 bottles, but I start with more than 5g in the fermenter, don't use a secondary, usually only take 1 hydrometer sample, and tilt the bottling bucket so I can get almost everything out of it.

-a.
 
I use a mix of whatever bottles I have available, and with that I get between 32 and 44 bottles from a 5 gallon batch. It's very helpful to RDWHAHB :mug: .
 
The thing is, honestly, once you have a pipeline of good beer flowing, one or two or 6 bottles less won't matter..it's better to have fewer bottles of great beer than a lot of bottles of SH@tty beer....and some recipes are going to have a LOT of trub...and some aren't...Every batch will vary. and actually, when you have several batches at different parts of the fermentation cycle going, a few ounces here and their won't really matter to you....


That is the crux of the matter. :mug:
 
Ok, that's pretty much what I figured, thanks for all the insight.

My first batch was a British Pub Porter that I think may just have left a lot of trub in the primary. And I did leave some in the primary and the secondary so that does make sense.

I also didn't filter anything from the wort boil and just dumped the whole concoction into the primary and then topped off. Maybe this gave me extra trub? I have heard of some people straining all of that out but I left it in for my first two batches.

And I'm using pretty much any bottles available to me. They all say 12oz on them before I take the labels off but who knows. Anyways, thanks for the help, I'm not going to worry and I can't wait for the beer to finish in the next two weeks :)
 
The way I see it, if you top off to exactly 5 gallons then you're going to come up short. The amount of sediment/trub is going to displace the wort, giving you less liquid (beer). (5 gal wort - 0.5 gal sediment = 4.5 gal BEER)

Then subtract a few samples, and subtract a bit more if you use a secondary. You can quickly find yourself with > 4 gallons of beer

I rely on the hydrometer to tell me when I've hit the correct gravity and that often means topping up to 5.5 gallons. There are many factors that are going to determine your final volume but the goal is good tasting beer, even if it means only having 30 some bottles. :tank:
 
Travel dude,

I fill my carbouys 1 1/2" over the 5 gallon mark.
and get on average 46 12 oz bottles.
'Leave the trub behind.'


J. Winters VonKnife
 
The way I see it, if you top off to exactly 5 gallons then you're going to come up short. The amount of sediment/trub is going to displace the wort, giving you less liquid (beer). (5 gal wort - 0.5 gal sediment = 4.5 gal BEER)

Then subtract a few samples, and subtract a bit more if you use a secondary. You can quickly find yourself with > 4 gallons of beer

I rely on the hydrometer to tell me when I've hit the correct gravity and that often means topping up to 5.5 gallons. There are many factors that are going to determine your final volume but the goal is good tasting beer, even if it means only having 30 some bottles. :tank:
Wouldnt you rather have <5 gallons of beer that is really good and how its supposed to taste? Rather then 5 gallons of watered down beer? Can't you just make more batches to get to 5 gallons? That number doesn't seem as important to me as the quality.
 
I used to fret abt how many bottles .. then I moved to 22 oz which made it easier to count the bottles, and less work...

Now with kegging, I know there is less waste ..
 
With a little math you can figure how much you lost during fermentation and on your next batch top up to compensate.

1 gallon = 128 oz. so thats about 10.5 12oz bottles per gallon. or 53.3 12 oz bottles per 5 gallon.

So if you started out with 5 gallons exactly into the primary. and you ended up with only 38 bottles., that is 456oz. Devide that by 128 and you get 3.56 gallons. So that means you lost approximatly 1.5 gallons from trub/transfers/bottling.

Now that would probably go down some with more experience and depending on how much trub you can keep out of the fermenter. It would be kind of hard to add an extra 1.5 gallons unless you have a 7-8 gallon fermenter. I would start off adding an extra 1/2 to 1 gallon on your next batch if that can safely fit in your fermenter. And you can add an extra pound of grain or extract to compensate for your SG.
 
Wouldnt you rather have <5 gallons of beer that is really good and how its supposed to taste? Rather then 5 gallons of watered down beer? Can't you just make more batches to get to 5 gallons? That number doesn't seem as important to me as the quality.

There is no compromise in quality if you hit the correct SG. If that means 5.5 gallons of wort then so be it. You don't just water down the beer for the purpose of increasing volume. Your hydrometer is the key to quality.
 
I'm sorry if this has been discussed before but I didn't see anything when I tried to search.

Anyways, I just bottled my first batch and I only got 38 bottles out of it. Is this normal? Here is my process:

I kept the wort in my primary and moved it to my secondary after about 2 weeks. I know I lost a bit there because I didn't syphon all of the sludge at the bottom out of the primary (I didn't think I was supposed to since my syphon kept getting clogged) I also started off with my Ale Pale exactly at the 5 gallon mark.

Any advice or pointers would be great. I'd like to know how to get the most out of my beer. Thanks everyone :mug:

The only problem is that the beer may be a bit overcarbed if you used enough primer to carb 5 gallons when it sounds like you only had about 4.
 
There is no compromise in quality if you hit the correct SG. If that means 5.5 gallons of wort then so be it. You don't just water down the beer for the purpose of increasing volume. Your hydrometer is the key to quality.

Conversely if that means 4.5 gallons of wort, then SO BE THAT as well!

Like I said, ultimately worry of amount of beers seems to be a beginner worry... after you have 2 or 3 or 15 batches in the pipeline, a few beers here or there won't really matter...

For example, this summer my pipeline peaked with about 9 different batches in various stages, from fermenting to bottle conditioning...and 4 or 5 of those batches were 2.5 gallon all grain stovetop batches (so they were only 1 case of beer) while the rest were a mixture of 5 gallon extract w/ grain, or Partial Mash batches.

When you know that as one batch (no matter what size) is nearly finished being drunk, another is about to come online in drinkability, and you're about to bottle another batch...then you really don't care that you may have bottled 48 from one batch and 53 from another...if they are all tasty, then that's what truly matters.


+1 on the hydrometer though! That's why when I make an extract w/grain or PM batch that I am topping off in the fermenter before yeast pitch, I top off to 4.5 gallons, take a reading, if I don't hit the OG I top off another half gallon...take a reading, and if it needs it I add more and read again till I hit my number...most of the time with kit recipes, you hit the number based on the volume that the recipe is geared for. They are usually 5 or 5.5 gallons.
 
Wow, there's a lot of really good info in here! I'm really not too worried about the quantity, I was just curious more than anything. I only took one sample when I bottled it yesterday but so far I'm very happy with how the taste has turned out. The gravity readings have been spot on when I've taken them. I was wondering about the carbing. I know it may be a little over carbed but do you think I have to worry about bottle bombs? Thanks for all the help!
 
With a little math you can figure how much you lost during fermentation and on your next batch top up to compensate.

1 gallon = 128 oz. so thats about 10.5 12oz bottles per gallon. or 53.3 12 oz bottles per 5 gallon.

So if you started out with 5 gallons exactly into the primary. and you ended up with only 38 bottles., that is 456oz. Devide that by 128 and you get 3.56 gallons. So that means you lost approximatly 1.5 gallons from trub/transfers/bottling.

Now that would probably go down some with more experience and depending on how much trub you can keep out of the fermenter. It would be kind of hard to add an extra 1.5 gallons unless you have a 7-8 gallon fermenter. I would start off adding an extra 1/2 to 1 gallon on your next batch if that can safely fit in your fermenter. And you can add an extra pound of grain or extract to compensate for your SG.

Using the same math you get 8 16oz bottles/gallon or 40 bottles/5 gallon batch. So 38 X 16oz divided by 128oz/gallon and you have 4.75 gallons of brew. Are you using P.E.T. bottles? Sounds like you're using 16oz bottles just like me.
 

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