How to get the most from your batches

[jceg316]

Hi everyone, I brew 5 gal batches, and when the cooled wort goes into the FV there is always ~5 (give or take less than a litre). Then after fermentation when I transfer to the bottling bucket, there is a lot less. With higher gravity beers there is more trub, meaning more liquid is absorbed, and dry hopped beers I lose about a gallon as the beer is absorbed into the hops.

Do you have any ways to maximise your "harvest" and try and get the beer absorbed by the trub and hops?

 

[FuriousE]

I usually just adjust my recipes to get 5 gallons into the keg. I know if I'm doing an IIPA or something I'll loose more to the hops/trub, so I plan a bigger batch into the fermenter.

 

[duboman]

Yup, adjust your recipes and process to account for your losses. Shoot for 5.5 gallons into primary and you should get 5 finished gallons to package. For really hoppy beers you might need to go 5.75-6 gallons depending on the amount of hops.

 

[revco]

Many of us adjust our target for 5.5 or 6 gallons out of the kettle in order to end up pretty close to 5 gallons of finished product. Software tools make these adjustments easy, but you can also usually just "guesstimate" by throwing in a bit extra of your ingredients and water to adjust the final volume. You can minimize waste by tipping your fermenter when you bottle or keg, but you'll still see some loss no matter what.

 

[jceg316]

I was seeing if anyone has some sort of filter, or maybe something like a cafetiere in their FV. If I added an extra half gallon I wouldn't have a great deal of room left in my FV and the yeast will start coming through the airlock. It would also be good to see if there was a more efficient way of making the most of the current batch before adding more.

 

[jbb3]

As others have said, recipe adjustments are the key. But don't forget Mash & sparge water volume as part of your recipe adjustments.

I shoot for 6 gal post boil volume and calculate backwards to come up with Mash & Sparge volumes. You need to account for absorption rate of your grain, boil off rate and losses from equipment (tubing, false bottom dead space, etc...), all need to be factored in when making adjustments.

I created a spread sheet that does the calculations for me. I just plug in the grain weight, boil time and target post boil volume and VOILA, it spits out the Mash & Sparge volumes needed to hit my post boil volume target. Since creating it, I've only I've only used it twice but hit my Post Boil Volume number both times!

The calculations I use are as follows (with example values):

A = Post Boil Volume (gal) – 6gal
B = Boil Time (min) – 75min
C = Grain Weight (lbs) – 11lbs
D = Mash Water to Grain Ratio (qt/lb) – I use 1.5qt
E = Pre-Boil Volume (Gal) –# of min x .0167 for boil off rate (1 gal/hr)
F = Mash/Strike Water Volume (gal)
G = Sparge Water Volume (gal)
H = Grain Absorption Factor - .125

Example using values above

Mash/Strike Water Volume (gal) Calculation = (C*D)/4
11lbs x 1.5qt = 16.5 / 4 = 4.125 gal
Pre-Boil Volume (gal) Calculation = (B*.0167)+A
75min x .0167 = 1.25 + 6gal = 7.25 gal
Sparge Water Volume (gal) Calculation = E-(F-(C*H))
(C*H) ---> 11lbs x .125 = 1.375
F-(C*H) ---> 4.125 gal – 1.375 = 2.75
E-(F-(C*H)) ---> 7.25 gal – 2.75 = 4.5 gal

So in the example above; assuming 11 lbs of grain, 75min boil time, 6 gal Post Boil Volume:
Mash/Strike Water Volume = 4.125 gal
Sparge Water Volume = 4.5 gal
Pre-Boil Volume = 7.25 gal

My last batch, I used these numbers and BAM! I hit them right on....

I hope this this!

 

[Bucky_Brewer]

I took to doing this, and I feel like I'm picking up about two liters per 19/20 liter batch.

Thoughts on this Method of Bottle Conditioning/Hopping?

Basically I've stopped "dry hopping" in favor of making a "sweet hop tea" and adding that at bottling time.

Instead of losing a liter of beer in the muck of a hop addition, I'm actually adding a liter with the sweet hop tea.

It's not a perfect solution, obviously, but I personally feel like I'm coming out ahead doing it this way.

 

[jceg316]

Hey JBB3 that's some complex arithmetic going on there! Indo love a good excel spreadsheet and the core of my homebrew operation (conversions, calculations, recipie storage etc) is run off a spreadsheet in excel.

I'm gonna need this weekend and I'm gonna try filtering the wort through a fine seive and maybe some cheesecloth. I know this isn't the same stage I was talking about before it should hopefully stop any crap from the boil, like hops etc, making their way into the fermentor.

If any homebrew equipment manufacturers are reading this, please make some sort of giant cafetiere brew kettle or fermenter.