I'm trying to come to grips with some of life's most proponderous questions. So bear with me please.
As a beginning brewer I chose ingredient kits to familiarize myself with different beers and the general methods of extract brewing. The kits have all tasted great - containing great hop selections and good amounts of specialty grains.
It seems as if I made a good mistake with my first several batches. I started out with 5 gallons in my primary. Then once I transfered to the secondary, I had less because of the trub leftovers. Then to my bottling bucket it ran. Well, of course, by bottling time I had lost a good amount and wasn't bottling 5 gallons worth.
But the beer was fantastic. Then I learned the error of my ways and worked up a chocolate stout, and bottled 5 gallons by adding sanitized water along the way to make up for the trub losses. After three weeks of rest in the bottles I've been sampling them.
Tastes watered down to me...
Should I end up with a final bottling volume of 5 gallons (for 5 gallon recipes), or should I just not compensate for the trub and other losses?
Any thoughts?
As a beginning brewer I chose ingredient kits to familiarize myself with different beers and the general methods of extract brewing. The kits have all tasted great - containing great hop selections and good amounts of specialty grains.
It seems as if I made a good mistake with my first several batches. I started out with 5 gallons in my primary. Then once I transfered to the secondary, I had less because of the trub leftovers. Then to my bottling bucket it ran. Well, of course, by bottling time I had lost a good amount and wasn't bottling 5 gallons worth.
But the beer was fantastic. Then I learned the error of my ways and worked up a chocolate stout, and bottled 5 gallons by adding sanitized water along the way to make up for the trub losses. After three weeks of rest in the bottles I've been sampling them.
Tastes watered down to me...
Should I end up with a final bottling volume of 5 gallons (for 5 gallon recipes), or should I just not compensate for the trub and other losses?
Any thoughts?