Low Gravity, Low Fermenter Volume

[Coachzart]

Brewed the following yesterday...

Method: All Grain
Style: Blonde Ale
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 5.5 gallons

Amount Fermentable PPG °L Bill %
9 lb American - Pale 2-Row 37 1.8 83.7%
0.5 lb American - Caramel / Crystal 10L 35 10 4.7%
1 lb American - White Wheat 40 2.8 9.3%
0.25 lb American - Carapils (Dextrine Malt) 33 1.8 2.3%
10.75 lb Total

Mash Guidelines
Amount Description Type Temp Time
4 gal Infusion 153 °F 60 min
5 gal Sparge 168 °F 10 min
Starting Mash Thickness: 1.5 qt/lb

OG hit at 1.036 and the Fermenter Volume was under 5 gallons....wtf happened to my volume? lol Nothing was wasted and I'm clueless on the loss of ending volume.

Any ideas?

 

[bucketnative]

Who crushed your grain? 9/10 issues with low gravity are due to improper crushing of grains (not fine enough).

How much wort did you go into the kettle with? What is your boil-off rate?

Nine gallons of mash and sparge water is a lot for a 5.5-gallon batch. Why so much? You should lose about a 1 gal to grain absorption in the mash, but that still leaves you with 8 gallons that should come out of your mash and sparge routine (as you've described it).

Something is certainly off.

 

[rburrelli]

Something is certainly not right. With that amount of strike water and sparge water you should have come close, if not over, 5 gallons to the fermenter.
Perhaps your water measurements were not what you thought they were.

 

[grampamark]

^^^^This. I think your water measurements weren’t accurate.