Batch Size for All Grain & Mash Tun

[McGreen]

I know this is a total noob question, but I need to know if I am way off. I just got into all grain and the batch size for many recipes say 5.5 gallons. My carboy is only 5. Is the 5.5 due to residual water stuck in the grain and boil off? Is there only a .5 gallon residual and boil off loss?

Thanks! I am working on building my mash tun. Will post pics on the DIY. Was thinking of throwing a sparge manifold in as well instead of running sparge water through a colander. Excited!

 

[zeg]

I believe the 0.5 is usually intended to offset racking losses when going to secondary and/or the bottling bucket. The intent is to end up with 5.5 gallons after losing water to the grain and to boil-off. Obviously, this requires a > 5 gallon primary fermenter.

 

[BigBlueDog]

That figure may be accounting for some losses, e.g., a quart to the transfer from boil kettle to fermenter and another quart to what will be left behind in the fermenter. You end up with 5 gallons of packaged beer.

 

[BrewinHooligan]

The recipe is calculating 5.5 gallons into the fermenter after the boil. With a 5 gallon carboy you will want to scale your recipes back to 4 gallons to limit blowoffs.

 

[squeekybobo]

Or go get a 7.5 gallon bucket at your lhbs...

 

[dbhokie]

If you are putting in a 6.5 gallon bucket first, then racking to a carboy, you will probably be fine. Headspace won't be as big of a deal, and you will probably lose 1/2 gallon or so to trub, yeast cake, and exothermic evaporation due to yeast activity.