Second AG, missed final volume and off color

I did my second all grain on Sunday, an American Wheat kit from AHS. I had a few issues towards the end with the volumes.

I know from my first AG, that if I start with 7 gallons preboil, my final volume will be 5.5 gallons. The AHS instructions said to not run off more than 6.25 gallons total before boiling, and end up with a 5.25 gallon final volume.

So, I followed their instructions (they have never let me down after the numerous PM and extract kits I have done) and ended up with 4.5ish gallons of wort. If I would have followed by normal 1.25qt/pound mash and 2qt/pound sparge my volumes would have been right.

I was also 4 gravity points higher on the OG than the recipe, which I assumed was the missing .75 gallons of volume.

I went ahead and pitched one packet of Safale 06 Wheat Ale yeast, fermentation was going within about 5 hours... then 2 days later nothing. The wort looks like the color of straw and its so hazy you can't see any trub or sludge settleing to the bottom. I have made about 15 beers and never seen wort so cloudy like this.

So... I was alright on missing the volume, but now the color has me nervous. I bought more ingredients for a Litehaus Wheat batch which I'll do tomorrow with my own calculations.

Any thoughts?

Dave

4 points is nothing.. no stress. Wheats are cloudier than most also.

This one is super cloudy. Almost looks like muddy water. Is that normal?

Wheat is definitely more like that but it's more obvious in light beers since you can see all the sediment in suspension.

one thing to remember, evaporation from boiling isn't constant. humidity, temperature, wind, the vigor of teh boil (or lack of) all affect how much you lose.

i've never done an AG 'kit', but I suspect they only provide run-off instructions for novice brewers. I'd suggest you do it 'your way' from now on, because you know how 'your brewhouse' works better than they will.

technically you can top off to 5 gallons with water after the boil if it bugs you...but of course your gravity will drop.

I miss my volumes too. my current kolsch was only 4.5 gal into primary.