5 gallon kit only nets 43 bottles?

Just bottled my first batch and I only had a bit over 4 gallons from the secondary, netting 43 bottles. I didn't lose much wort racking to secondary (tipped the carboy and autosiphoned at the deep point), so I think I didn't top off all the way to 5 gallons on brew day. I know I made the mistake of not measuring out 5 gallons and marking my primary carboy before making this first batch. Lesson learned there.

So my question is...what effect will this have?

None, really. I know the difference between 43 and 53 bottles is alot, but really, it's not much when you consider 5 gallons of beer.

Next time, if you're following a 5 gallon recipe, make sure you top up to 5 gallons at the beginning. Or, follow a non-kit recipe and just scale up to 5.5 gallons so you end up with 5 gallons of finished beer.

Really, the important part is the taste and enjoyment of the beer not the exact number of bottles. If you've got a great beer, that's better than 10 more bottles of a not-so-good beer!

+1 to yoopers advice.

Also, we dont know what kind of beer you made. If it was an (I)IPA that you dry hopped, the extra hops in the secondary would account for your extra volume lost.

For a great lesson in "dry hopped volume" lost, check out Yoopers DogFish Head 60 clone. I think I had like 40 beers (tops) after a 5 gallon batch. Best brew ever though.

It's Jamils Evil Twin from NB. No dry hopping.

I had the same experience on my first two batches. I only bought 5 gallons of water in jugs thinking "A 5 gallon batch only needs 5 gallons right?" Well after realizing our batches were closer to 4 going into the fermentor from steeping grain absorbtion and boil off, we learned to just get 6 gallons going into it to avoid having to run to the grocery store for another jug!

At first it was a little difficult for me to get my head wrapped around the concepts, but now my numbers are 6, 5.25, and 5. I make beer to have a final volume of 6.0 gallons so that by the time I'm done I transfer 5.25 gallons to primary. Then if I bottle I end up transferring 5.0 gallons to my bottling bucket.

unionrdr said:

I've noticed that different brews produce different amounts of trub too. That would account for some losses.

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+1

I had exactly 5 gallons at pitch time for my Glacier PA, I ended up with 50 bottles of beer which blew my mind! However, I just bottled my Friday IPA on Monday, I ended up with 42 bottles, same starting amount, higher gravity, more hops, more trub

Different types and amounts of fermentables, your yeast, the leftover hops from the boil, it all comes into consideration. I recommend starting a brew book for yourself, writing down your results after you brew a recipe, then next time you brew said recipe you can scale up if its important to you to land a particular amount of bottles per batch.

Also, definitely mark gallon levels on your carboy like you suggested, that is important information to have

Yooper said:

None, really. I know the difference between 43 and 53 bottles is alot, but really, it's not much when you consider 5 gallons of beer.

Next time, if you're following a 5 gallon recipe, make sure you top up to 5 gallons at the beginning. Or, follow a non-kit recipe and just scale up to 5.5 gallons so you end up with 5 gallons of finished beer.

Really, the important part is the taste and enjoyment of the beer not the exact number of bottles. If you've got a great beer, that's better than 10 more bottles of a not-so-good beer!

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Amen to that. Quantity is much less important than quality. If you're hitting close to your OG and FG numbers like you should be and you are fermenting within the right temperature range, that's all that matters.

Even the size of the bottles can come into consideration.

The grolsch bottles I use in bottling hold 467ml, compared to around 350ml for a standard brown beer bottle. Understandably, I get less bottles filled...

Don't forget to account for your hydrometer readings. Every time you make a reading, that's beer that won't be bottled in the end.

beer_wookie said:

Don't forget to account for your hydrometer readings. Every time you make a reading, that's beer that won't be bottled in the end.

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But it goes in my belly right away

I had the same problem until I started really paying attention and taking notes. What I discovered was that I was struggling to brew 5 gallons of finished beer, BIAB method, in a pot that isn't big enough to handle this volume. But, I didn't realize it until I started writing down the numbers of what was happening in all the steps of a brew session.

To solve the problem, I picked up a cheap wooden yard stick, filled up my kettle with water, marking off 1/2 gallon points on my yard stick, then started taking notes every brew session - how much did I lose to grain absorption? How much did I lose to boil off?

I marked off 1/2 gallon points on my fermentation bucket and bottling bucket with a sharpie so I can record the number of gallons that goes into those.

My latest tip is to transfer finished beer to the bottling bucket BEFORE melting my bottle conditioning sugar. I can see exactly how much I have to bottle and make changes to the amount of sugar I use for bottle conditioning. No more over or under carbed beers.

What I learned - for my equipment, I just make smaller batches due to a smaller kettle. But I'm hitting my numbers, where I wasn't before. And, I'm making higher quality beer. So, until I get a bigger kettle, I will do 3.5 gallon batches of really good beer and great efficiency!

Maybe the title was a bit misleading. I already know where the mistake was made. I didn't mark my carboy for 5 gallons before my first batch. This has already been corrected. the question was....

What, if any, impact should I expect from being 1/2 to 3/4 gallon short on the initial top off?

I think Yooper answered the question, now we're just chit chatting about the topic.

I would think if any affect it would mean less volume and higher gravity beer.