Anyone got a picture of a 6.5 gallon carboy with 5 gallons in it?

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Tankard

Tankard

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I'm looking at my primary fermenter and the beer level looks low for some reason.... I've reviewed my brewing procedure and even with some evaporation taken into account, I should be around 5 gallons but it looks like I've got quite a bit less.

Would I be able to add sanitized water to my secondary fermenter if I do not have enough ? Would this affect the flavor of the beer at this point (watered down?), or should I just keep things they way they are?

 
Aside from your actual question, be sure to calibrate your carboy with a sharpie marker in the future. I start at the 4.75 gallon mark and go up to the neck in .25 gallon increments.
 
Bobby_M said:
Aside from your actual question, be sure to calibrate your carboy with a sharpie marker in the future. I start at the 4.75 gallon mark and go up to the neck in .25 gallon increments.
Click to expand...

I was actually going to do this prior to this batch, but I forgot :(

Oh well, hopefully I will still end up with good beer.


EDIT: Actually, on the front page there was this picture
plant_brew.jpg


That looks about right for my beer, or very very close at least. I feel better already.
 
Another thing you may consider for the future: I used to do 5 gallons in the primary, but by the time it gets to the keg, I have just over 4.5 gallons. I now shoot for about 5.25 gallons (up to 5.5 gallons) in the primary so that I end up with 5 gallons in the secondary and just under that in the keg.

And +1 to Bobby. I start mine at 3 gallons and go up. My sight glass on my brew kettle is empty with 3 gallons to go (only 2.25 gallons in the carboy). I just like to monitor how close I am to being done, so I have the extra marks on there.
 
Hmm, I think I have less than I thought....

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This is definitely not 5 gallons. Anyone got an estimate? What should I do? Add water to secondary?
 
Let it be... nothing wrong with coming up a little short, and that's actually not that low. I would definately not add water though. Think about it, would you add water to a glass of beer, basically the same thing. You shouldn't have any problems, just a couple fewer bottles. RDWHAHB and next time, make the batch a little bigger.
 
I was taught at first to only do primary and not transfer into secondary. Seems like a lot of people do that now. I was told to leave my water about a gallon short on a 6 gallon batch to allow room for the foam, and then add more water once it has gone down. Worked fine, but makes it hard to test.
Did you test the gravity before you pitched the yeast, and was it close to what you were shooting for?
Even without testing, if it called for 5 gallons and you are short, i wouldn't worry about adding a little more water once the primamry fermantation has slowed down. Wait until it has done its thing first.
 
violins said:
I was taught at first to only do primary and not transfer into secondary. Seems like a lot of people do that now. I was told to leave my water about a gallon short on a 6 gallon batch to allow room for the foam, and then add more water once it has gone down. Worked fine, but makes it hard to test.
Did you test the gravity before you pitched the yeast, and was it close to what you were shooting for?
Even without testing, if it called for 5 gallons and you are short, i wouldn't worry about adding a little more water once the primamry fermantation has slowed down. Wait until it has done its thing first.
Click to expand...

This is just asking for problems, namely, oxygenation. Adding water to an already fermented beer risks adding oxygen which is one of the worst things for your beer after fermentation (the yeast have already used what they need). This will lead to unstable storing and your beers going bad possibly even before you ever bottle them, and almost guaranteing that they wont be able to last as long on the shelf. You can get off-flavors like wet carboard very easily if proper care is not taken to avoid oxygenating your beer. Waiting until it has "done its thing" and adding water may end up being very detrimental to your brew. If you want to water your beer down go ahead, I just would never recomend it.

Other reasons not to water down you beer...

1. Lower ABV%
2. Unable to accurately calculate OG, IBU, SRM(color), ABV, etc.
3. Flavor is less pronounced, not quite what you wanted it to be.
4. Less malty/bitter
5. Tastes like BMC
6. You are watering down a perfectly good beer.
 
Alright, I'm sold, no water.

I tend to like stronger beers anyway. I ended up with 45 bottles last time, let's see how many I get this time.

Does that look like 4.5 gallons?
 
Good points. I'm new at this, and sometimes forget to RDWHAHB!
Since the yield will be low, you have a good excuse to get started on the next batch right away to make up for it! :mug:
 
Also, could depend on what kind of carboy you have. I have one carboy that's skinny, but 2-3 inches taller than my others of the same capacity.
 
I think the top of the Krausen is about 5 gallons..so my estimate would be u are right at 4 gallons maybe a bit over around 4.25 gallons at most..

I also agree unless your gravity is way off or way high and u don't want such a big beer u can go with more water..but I would never do that myself and just say I made a bigger beer and be happy..:ban:

Jay
 
4? Crap, I have no idea how I could have lost that much water... at least I know what to do next time to correct this.

I should still walk away with over 40 bottles.... at least my kit was cheap.
 
Brew Dude said:
4? Crap, I have no idea how I could have lost that much water... at least I know what to do next time to correct this.

I should still walk away with over 40 bottles.... at least my kit was cheap.
Click to expand...


No worries we all have either had too little or too much..I personally would rather have too little of a great beer than too much of a watered down beer.

What was your process and maybe we can help..I do all grain full boils and have 7.0 to 7.25 gallons pre boil(60 min boil) and end up with 5.5 into fermenter as some have said. My boil off rate is at about 15% on most days..Have u checked your boil off rate? It really can very on windy or cold days.. I measered up to 9 gallons with one of my spoons in my kettle so I can check my volume exactly before I boil and adjust my time accordingly. software helps as well. I have done the same process with all of my batches and had it vary almost 1/2 gallon depending on the conditions and intensity of the boil.

Jay
 
I'm still an extract brewer while I collect my all grain equipment arsenal.

The recipe called for steeping grains for 25 minutes in 3 quarts of 155 degree water. Then, sparge with 3 more quarts of 170 degree water (I sparged more than this because I noticed my runnings were still dark. I probably sparged with almost a gallon.

I then brought 2 gallons of water to a boil, turned off the heat, stirred in my extract, and then added the grain water. So, at this point I should have had almost 4 gallons. (~7 quarts steep water + 2 gallons boil water). After adding the hops I began the hour long boil. No lid, so I did lose water during this process. After I chilled the wort down to pitching temperature, I added about 1.5 gallons to my carboy before adding the wort. I brought it into my garage, pitched the yeast, and it was fermenting aggressively around 12 hours later.

So, a little less than 4 gallons + 1.5 gallons should have given me around 5.5 gallons of water total. I probably lost no more than 0.5 gallons due to evaporation. I should of been right around 5 gallons, I just don't see how I could be off so much.
 
Brew Dude said:
I'm still an extract brewer while I collect my all grain equipment arsenal.

The recipe called for steeping grains for 25 minutes in 3 quarts of 155 degree water. Then, sparge with 3 more quarts of 170 degree water (I sparged more than this because I noticed my runnings were still dark. I probably sparged with almost a gallon.

I then brought 2 gallons of water to a boil, turned off the heat, stirred in my extract, and then added the grain water. So, at this point I should have had almost 4 gallons. (~7 quarts steep water + 2 gallons boil water). After adding the hops I began the hour long boil. No lid, so I did lose water during this process. After I chilled the wort down to pitching temperature, I added about 1.5 gallons to my carboy before adding the wort. I brought it into my garage, pitched the yeast, and it was fermenting aggressively around 12 hours later.

So, a little less than 4 gallons + 1.5 gallons should have given me around 5.5 gallons of water total. I probably lost no more than 0.5 gallons due to evaporation. I should of been right around 5 gallons, I just don't see how I could be off so much.
Click to expand...

Well 4 gallons pre boil than 1 hr boil is 3 gallons post boil plus 1.5 gallons so 4.5 gallons into fermentor..u forgot to think about 1 gallon will boil off in an hour..also u will lose some water volume drom the cooling process as well as trub if you removed it before it went into the carboy..a lot can affect the volume. even the time steeping the grains will lose some water from evaporation.. next time add 4 gallons into carbot mark it and than add .25 increments until u reach 6 gallons. This way once u go all grain u will better have a grasp of your process..



Jay
 
I would only add the water if you were higher on your OG than expected by a good amount, say more than 10 or 15%. By looking at the picture, I think you are close. I am not sure if you measured OG at that point, but based on your "lost wort" it is possible you boiled it away and your beer is now more concentrated than expected. This may also cause an issue with hop balance. Best bet is to taste it on transfer. If you do decide to add water, heed the warning about adding oxygen. The best way to avoid this is to boil the water (which will drive off oxygen - it does not stay dissolved well in boiling water) and cool it covered without aerating (jostling it too much). This will keep it low in oxygen as well as sanitize it. Transfer it to secondary from its container as you would with wort - gently by siphoning.

If you can get me an accurate measurement of the height and diameter of your carboy and the height of your wort from the floor, I can check that against my 6.5 gallon marked carboy as long as ours are the same size.
 
I tested my final gravity today... so far it's 1.012 and the target was 1.014. It's been in the primary for 6 days and it appears it is done fermenting. Is this close enough? What did I do to overshoot the FG?
 
Brew Dude said:
I tested my final gravity today... so far it's 1.012 and the target was 1.014. It's been in the primary for 6 days and it appears it is done fermenting. Is this close enough? What did I do to overshoot the FG?
Click to expand...

FG is just an estimated based on the yeast's ability to consume the sugars and turn them into alcohol. You basically have no control over it outside of measuring it and adding chemicals to kill the yeast prior to fermentation being complete (sometimes done in wine to keep it more sweet)
 
You didn't really overshoot. You provided a very good enviroment for your yeast to go to work in, and they did their best to eat as much sugar as they can. Good enviroment + healthy yeasy = well attenuated beer. Most yeast have a range, so you probably just hit the upper end of that range. If you are going to secondary, go ahead and do it now, if you are bottling straight from primary, give it a week and go for it.
 

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