Final volume question

So I just racked my second batch into the secondary. I had a similar problem with my first batch but when I racked from my primary bucket into the secondary carboy it was pretty much nowhere near 5 gallons. I know some of it is the left over trub in the bottom of the primary but my first batch only produced about 40 bottles (480 oz. or about 3.75 gallons) which is quite a bit off of the 5 gallons that I started with in the primary.

So, is there something I should be doing about this to have my final product be more near 5 gallons or is the 3.75-4 gallons at the end fine? If I add more pure water into the primary (post boil and pre-pitch) then won't that decrease my OG?

scottedk said:

So, is there something I should be doing about this to have my final product be more near 5 gallons or is the 3.75-4 gallons at the end fine? If I add more pure water into the primary (post boil and pre-pitch) then won't that decrease my OG?

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Most kits require 5 gallons. Take a milk jug and fill it with water, add 5 of these to your fermentor ( most buckets and carboys are a little off from the marks that are on them). Take a sharpie or a piece of tape and mark where you are at the 5 gallon mark.

Here's a trick, start your boil with 3 gallons of water in the boiling pot. Add 2 gallons of water to your fermenter, then when your dump your wort to aerate, top off the remaing water that you lost in your boil.

Balto said:

Most kits require 5 gallons. Take a milk jug and fill it with water, add 5 of these to your fermentor ( most buckets and carboys are a little off from the marks that are on them). Take a sharpie or a piece of tape and mark where you are at the 5 gallon mark.

Here's a trick, start your boil with 3 gallons of water in the boiling pot. Add 2 gallons of water to your fermenter, then when your dump your wort to aerate, top off the remaing water that you lost in your boil.

Click to expand...

This is what I do. I boil the 2.5-3 gallons. When I put that into the fermenter I then top it off to the 5-gallon mark. It is after I rack to secondary (I lose some due to trub at the bottom) and go to bottling that I lose that other 1 gallon or so.