5 gallons = 42 bottles (12oz)

5 batches done so far, and 4 of them, I ended up with 42 bottles. Is this consistent with what others are getting?

Sounds about right. You'll usually get 40-50 bottles out of a 5 gal batch, depending on the exact volume, amount of hops/trub, etc.

I get as many as 54 bottles per batch, using the method I recommend in my bottling thread, as well as a month long primary which compresses the yeast cake.. But on average about 52.

A 5 gallon batch of beer is typically 2 cases or 48 beers, minimum. If there is less than that I would really look at what you are doing and how much you are leaving behind.

My bottling thread https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/bottling-tips-homebrewer-94812/

My yield went up when 1) I became more careful about starting with a full batch my adding sufficient makeup water and 2)I got braver about racking the beer into secondary or bottling containers. A little gunk from the bottom can get racked, especially to secondary, without trouble so there is less waste.

+1 on the 52 bottles.

Maybe you boiled off more than you realized? 42 is not bad though.

I usually get between 49 and 52 bottles.

I have only bottled two batches so far, but both gave me 47 bottles, so I would say 42 is not unreasonable. If you are doing partial boils it could be a function of how you measure your makeup water. The marking on your bucket may not be very accurate.

48 and 46 bottles so far. I did a poor job racking and didn't top off with enough water so I ended up a little short.

I've bottled about 7 batches now, and I've had anywhere from 46-50 bottles per batch. I do partial-mash brews and top off to 5-1/4 gallons, fwiw.

i usually plan for 52 bottles, and sanitize 56, on the rare occasion i bottle instead of keg. 52 almost always ends up right

I got 42 out of my IPA I bottled today. I did a horrible job racking from primary into secondary and then the 2oz of dry hop soaked up a good amount of beer, too. I knew I was going to only get 4 gallons of beer before I calculated priming sugar. You can run into carbonation issues if you use the kit recommendation of 5oz per 5 gallons. For example, I carb'd my IPA to 2.2 volumes and it only took 3oz of corn sugar in 4.25 gallons. If you use 5oz of corn sugar and end up with only 42 bottles then you're going to have some super fizzy brews.

Damn, I only get one bottle from a five gallon batch...

I've been dropping the full 5oz of priming sugar even when bottling 4-4.25 gallons and haven't had any problems yet. I do chill to 40 F before drinking, though.

Usually get around 50 bottles.

So far I've been around 49 50 51, right in that area. The only time I got less than 2 cases was when I used some gelatin finings in the secondary. I did it on one batch just to see the effect. Only wound up with 46 on that one. I doubt I'll use much more of that jar of finings. A little clarity doesn't seem to be worth a couple bottles of beer.

i used to get about 45ish bottles a batch...then i took a gallon measuring container, poured it in my buckets, looked at where the water line was vs. the "1 gallon" marker on my buckets...found out "1 gallon" mark was about a .25 inches low...took a sharpie, made a mark. repeated this (making a new mark each gallon) till i got to the 5 gallons of water in my bucket, and now i get right around 50 bottles a batch. maybe your bucket is off like mine was.

I bottled what I thought was a 5 gallon (19 liter) batch of Graff last night.

Got 9 900ml bottles, and 22 450 ml bottles, +about 300 ml in a sample glass >_>

Comes out to 18 litres +300 ml. I guess the rest was lost to trub, or hydrometer samples that I decided to.. uh.. sample. >.>

stdwdh16 said:

......The marking on your bucket may not be very accurate.

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the_mox said:

i used to get about 45ish bottles a batch...then i took a gallon measuring container, poured it in my buckets, looked at where the water line was vs. the "1 gallon" marker on my buckets...found out "1 gallon" mark was about a .25 inches low...took a sharpie, made a mark. repeated this (making a new mark each gallon) till i got to the 5 gallons of water in my bucket, and now i get right around 50 bottles a batch. maybe your bucket is off like mine was.

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I get right around 48 per 5 gallon batch. Plus the one i drink on bottling night. I would also measure you primary vessel for volume accuracy. I had a great "ah ha!" moment from this site when I read a thread that spoke about the markings on the side of a primary bucket being inaccurate. I measured out my primary that night with a 2 quart measuring cup and had similar results to the mox in my water level appeared 0.25" below the indicated level.

I always got 52.

Once I realized that the 5 gallon mark on my bucket was a half gallon low, my yield went up.

smata67 said:

I've been dropping the full 5oz of priming sugar even when bottling 4-4.25 gallons and haven't had any problems yet. I do chill to 40 F before drinking, though.

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I'm not sure what you mean by haven't had any problems. It's pure math that if you prime with 5oz in 4 gallons then you're overshooting your CO2 volume.. by a lot. Most styles don't even require 5oz in 5 gallons of beer. In my short homebrewing experience the most common mistake I've tasted is improper carb levels for style. Why go through all of the painstaking details in the brewing and fermentation process only to ignore the critical carbonation step?

Here is a great calculator that shows carbonation volumes by style and calculates how much corn sugar you need to achieve the CO2 volume.

http://www.tastybrew.com/calculators/priming.html

The other thing I did to improve my yield was to recalculate the recipe (if necessary) for 5.5 gallons. If you're using a kit with extract, sized for a 5 gallon batch, it's only about an extra 1/2 lb. of DME.

I get 52 bottles, more or less.

Very first brew came in with 47.5 bottles.

I got 50 from my last 5 gal batch. I'm usually right around 50.