less wort mean more abv?

I just brewed a simple Pale Ale and after transferring into the secondary I realize I've lost a lot of beer! I did a 5 gallon batch and I've ended up with only about 3.5 or 4 gallons. Now I hear people say this beer will be stronger...however does this just describe flavor or abv? Can abv concentrate? (that seems like a stupid question)

I'm not afraid of a stronger beer, but I don't want something too bitter. I can't decide whether to leave it or add water (boiled of course )

Also I've used washed yeast and a starter for the first time. It seems I had more trub then my previous batches. How will I know if I've over pitched the yeast, ie. what will the beer taste like?

Thanks.

It depends on where you lost the volume. If it's boil off, you will end up with a higher ABV. If its equipment loss, you will just end up with less beer. Are you extract or AG?

if you just did a basic starter, you are probably ok with the amount of yeast, likely no off-flavors from that. It makes sense you have more trub because you had a healthier fermentation... good thing.

As far as loss, William is correct. You probably experienced less loss than you think, but likely began your boil with right at 5 gallons or less. Be sure to get atleast 5.5 in that kettle when boil begins. If this is the case you will have a higher gravity beer, high sugar to water ratio thus higher ABV. I never recommend adding water after fermentation. Next time if you get less than 5 gallon fill it up before pitching your yeast, then you should have a consistent gravity reading.

This was my first AG batch as well. I used a temperature mash at 155F for 50min. I think I will just leave it as is and see how it tastes! I use Brewtarget for my recipes and I'm wondering if I just change the batch size to the final amount I ended up with if the numbers will be correct. For example I set the batch size to 3.5gallon and the abv jumped from ~5.5 to ~7.8 however my OG and FG were no longer correct?! My OG was 1.060 and my FG was 1.020. Any thoughts to my abv?

Thanks for the quick response.

ANewrBrewr said:

This was my first AG batch as well. I used a temperature mash at 155F for 50min. I think I will just leave it as is and see how it tastes! I use Brewtarget for my recipes and I'm wondering if I just change the batch size to the final amount I ended up with if the numbers will be correct. For example I set the batch size to 3.5gallon and the abv jumped from ~5.5 to ~7.8 however my OG and FG were no longer correct?! My OG was 1.060 and my FG was 1.020. Any thoughts to my abv?

Thanks for the quick response.

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Your abv is 5.2%. If your volume going into the fermenter was 5 gallons it shouldnt change anything from your projected numbers.

One of the drawbacks of using software is that you often miss the fundamental concepts behind the calculations.

The software predicts the OG of your wort into the fermenter based on the grain bill and the brewhouse effeciency you plug in. Once the mash is complete and you have pulled the grains, the sugar in the wort will not change during the boil. Water wil be boiled off, concentrating the sugars in a smaller volume and raising the SG. Just more sugar per gallon, not more sugar. If you know how much you will boil off you can calculate the post boil SG. I would suggest you do the calculations manually for a batch. The math is not complicated and you will have a better intuition. (BTW i also use online caclulators to double check my spreadsheet)

FYI, the calculation of the full water volume you are going to use throughout your process is always the same for all brew styles and systems. You will use it in different places, depending on your process, but it'll always be this calculation. If you are not getting your intended final volume, you are not accounting for one of these correctly.

For extract, the most common place you are missing volume is you just aren't topping off with enough water post-cooldown, or possibly are not adding a bit extra to account for the trub you don't rack over:

Batch Size (i.e., 5.0 gallons)

+

Loss to grain absorbtion (This is only about 0.3 gallons in my process, but I squeeze the daylights out of my BIAB bag)

+

Loss to boiloff (this is about 1.2 gallons/hr. on my pot, but all pots are different. Boiloff is a function of surface area)

+

Loss to trub (however much hotbreak you leave behind post boil AND however much you leave behind when you rack from primary...on my system this # is about 0.5 gallons total)

+

Loss to contraction (you lose somewhere about 0.2-0.3 gallons during cooldown just due to the hot liquid contracting as it cools)

=

Total water volume.

Ostomo517 said:

Your abv is 5.2%. If your volume going into the fermenter was 5 gallons it shouldnt change anything from your projected numbers.

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That's what I was wondering. The amount of sugars will not change whether or not I brew 3 gallons or 5 gallons. So the abv should always be the same. That's what I thought, but everyone says "oh the beer will be so much stronger" and also according to brewtarget for the same grain bill in a 3 gallon batch the abv jumped way up. But hey my hydrometer doesn't lie right?