How much wort should I collect?

[IwanaBrich]

I'm new to all grain brewing and I have a question about the amount of wort that I should collect after sparging. So far I've only brewed 3 all grain batches. The last two recipes said to collect 8 gallons of wort and that seems way too much for a 5 or 5.5 gallon batch. The second batch I ended up boiling it down, but added quite a bit boil time and (I think) made it a tad bitter than it should have been. The last brew I realized immediately that I collected too much and I altered the recipe to bring up the specific gravity of the wort. I added 3/4 lb of dry malt extract and made it into a 6.5 gallon batch. What is the correct amount of wort that I should be collecting for a 5.5 gallon batch?

 

[AkTom]

I try to get 6.5 to 7 gallons of wort. I can easily boil off 1 gallon plus in 60 minutes. That leaves me with 5.5 gallons in carboy and 5 in the bottling bucket.

 

[Sammy86]

It all depends on how you are boiling down your wort. On my stove top I can boil down 6 gallons down to 5.5 in an hour so what you need to do is figure out how much you can boil down in an hour or 90 minutes. Once you figure that out you can figure out how much water you need to sparge with and you're all set!

 

[d_boosh]

Using a keggle and bayou classic burner I get at least a gallon of boil off for 60 min boil. Sometimes an extra quart or 2 depending on ambient conditions.

 

[Hello]

Aside from boil off, programs like beer smith account for trub loss as well. I set my old system to .20 gal deadspace in my mash tun, .50 loss from trub and cooling (accounting for what may be sitting in the pump and on the floor), and 1 gallon for boil off. Dead space doesn't matter in pre boil volume obviously. So for me to get 5.5 gallons, I needed 7 gallons pre boil. Now I need more because my boil off is higher with my electric setup.

So you must figure out boil off first and then watch how much you lose to trub. Reality is I think most only lose .25 gallons tops to trub, but for me, I account for the pumps and the occasional spillage.

 

[logdrum]

It all depends on your system. I like to get 5.7 gal into the fermenter, for a full 5 gal into the keg. To realize this, I need 8.2 gal pre boil @ whatever gravity necessitated by the OG. Id rather have too much wort than not enough. Take detailed notes & adjust your recipe as needed. Try to keep your boil consistent from batch to batch.

 

[kh54s10]

You are on your way. You have figured out you are collecting too much. Try to figure out how much less you need to end up with the proper amount into the fermenter. My system needs about 7.25 to end up with 5.25 into the fermenter and 5 into the keg. So 2 gallons per hour for me. My burner cuts off if I turn it down too much so I get a vigorous boil.