First Batch Is In The Bottles

As the subject says, my first batch is now in the bottles. Overall everything went well but a couple of things I've learned:

1) Siphons stink - I'm spending the $8.95 on an automatic siphon starter
2) Bottles stink - I already have a kegerator so I'm getting a corny plus attachments

I was wondering what the typical yield is when all is said and done. I boiled 3 gallons for the wort and added 2.5 to fill up the primary fermentor. In the end I had only 17 Franziskahner and 16 regulation bottles full which if I'm doing my math correctly is 17 * 16.9 + 16 * 12 = 479.3 oz = 3.75 gals.

I did have several false starts with the siphon and wasn't as efficient with getting everything off of the trub when moving to secondary but that seems like a lot of missing beer.

Is this normal?

Thanks,
Andy

Get yourself a carboy cap (assuming you are using a carboy). Read Walker-San's thread here... https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=2910

These things are awesome, they make starting a siphon a complete non-issue. I'm also going to purchase an in-line filter soon to minimize the chance (slim) of contamination. Very, very easy to use as long as you are either racking from or into a carboy (which if you are using a carboy as a secondary fermenter, you always will be).

My first batch came up a little short volume-wise from what I expected, I think because I ended up leaving more behind when racking than I should have. Techniques improve over time.