Partial Boil volumn ???

In a typical 5 gallon full boil I've read

7 gallon boil
6 gallons at the end of boil
5.5 gallons going into the fermentor
5 gallons going into bottles

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So

in a partial boil what amount of water are YOU using and where is it.

How much for steeping - how much for boiling and how much is waiting in the carboy for dilution.

I normally have 1.5g for steeping and then add another 2g for the boil for a 3g boil. I probebly lose 1/2g in the boil?? But then I think I have too much water in the primary with 3.5 and I'm thinking I should have only 3 gallons.

I SHOULD have 5.5 gallons in the primary correct??

The reason I'm asking is that I have a 5g carboy just sitting there and figure I might as well use it as a Primary - so I have to adjust some numbers.

I never put 5.5 gallons in primary- usually it's around 5.25 gallons, if not right at 5 gallons. As long as my OG is correct, I don't sweat the exact amount.

The reason a 5 gallon carboy is difficult as a primary is not to do with the amount of liquid you pour in but with having enough headspace for the krausen. I'd recommend rigging a blow-off if you decide to go this route.

As for water volume, I use 1.5 gallon for steeping, add another 2 gallons for the boil, and then top off with 2 gallons. I typically use 1/2 gallon during the boil and end up with exactly 5 gallons going into the fermenter.

I boil 1.5 gals w/1 lb malt...lose about 1/2 gal in 45 mins.

Top off to 5.25 / 5.5 gals in a 7 gal bucket.

With steeping I still try to use 1/5 - 2 gals, including the sparge water...

If I'm going to use a 5g carboy as a primary I can just cut my recipe by . . . . 20% I would think.

I wasn't going with a full batch in a small primary.

Steeping ya gotta lose about 1/2 gallon still in the grains I would think

Thanks guys - just making sure I was not doing something weird.

As long as my OG is correct, I don't sweat the exact amount.

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true

Now waiting for AHS to get my order to me! Going to be about a week! 3 days process and three days on the road :-(

I think you'd be overestimated the grain absorption to figure that .5 gallon would be absorbed. I think if you have 15 pounds of grain, well, then sure you would. But not for a pound or a couple of pounds of grain.

When I did PM's and extract brewing, I steeped in about 1.5 quarts of water per pound of grain. After the grains were removed, I topped up to my boil size. I usually did 2.5 gallon boils, then chilled. When finished, I topped up to 5 gallons. It's actually pretty simple.

Yea - I was making an uneducated guess. My last batch I had a lot of steeping grains and was amazed at how much liquid was caught up in the grains but at that time did not think to measure the actual amount.