Coming Up Short

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cch0830

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I just brewed my second batch of brew last night. I had a boil over on my first batch so i was short about .5 to 1 gallon. I did not have any boil overs on my second brew and still came up short about. 5 to 1 gallon. Of course when i mean i came up short, i mean that i hit my OG before 5 gallons. I am extract brewing and doing partial boils.
 
You may want to check your instructions for your pre-boil volume, or recheck how much water you think you're adding to your kettle. You're inevitably going to lose some volume to evaporation during the boil. Your instructions may not adjust for that.

If you're consistently getting the same amount of volume loss at the end of the boil than you're supposed to, you could add that much more water to your kettle pre-boil to compensate.

Good luck. In the end, it'll probably still be good beer either way.
 
Most likely, this is just because you're not getting the wort and the top-off water mixed adequately to get a true gravity reading. This is very common, as it's quite difficult to get the two completely blended before fermentation really kicks off.

Brewing extract, it's very difficult to really miss OG - just top off your fermenter appropriately and you should be good. If you're not fully topping off, chances are that your true OG will actually be high, despite what the hydrometer is telling you with the samples you're able to grab.
 
like bluewolf said, you're going to lose some volume to evaporation and that is going to fluctuate based on how vigorous your boil is. to be sure you make 5 gallons (or 5+) in your fermenter you might want to have extra water prepared to add post boil. that would be a somewhat wasteful approach but a solution nonetheless. i know when i am preparing sparge water i can calculate exactly what would be needed, but i tend to add an extra gallon or two for mistakes, spills or the like.
 
I think we all hit the mark here. :D Excellent point on stirring extra vigorously after your top-off. I remember having trouble at first when I was extract brewing a couple years ago.

It may take a couple of batches for you to hone in your pre-boil volume and final gravity, but keep an eye on those two things and I'm sure you'll get it figured out. But let us know if you keep having problems.
 
I think I'm probably just not getting the wort and top off water mixed good. Though i did try to mix them better this time. How much should i lose from evaporation on a normal partial boil?
 
I think I'm probably just not getting the wort and top off water mixed good. Though i did try to mix them better this time. How much should i lose from evaporation on a normal partial boil?

If you are short on volume just top off your fermentor. If you are doing extract your sg will not be an issue.
 
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