Topping off question

[JohnnyShotgun]

1) When topping off in your primary (I'm using a 6.5 gal carboy), do you always top to 5 gal? And how do you have your carboy marked? (currently I have a piece of tape at the 5 gal mark)

Reason for the question is I believe my measurements may be off. At bottling time i usually bottle approx 44-48 beers....I think 5 gal should make more, in the 60 bottle range (?).

2) Second but on topic, if a recipe calls for a 5 gal batch (boil 2.5 gal and top off with 2.5 gal) and you only top with lets say 1.5 gal, will this raise your ABV or IBUs?

3) On kit (extract) recipes which calls for a 2.5 gal boil, can I boil all 5 gal?

Great forum...3 brews in, gets easier each time . Looking forward to my next two I have lined up, a Nut Brown (GFI kit for those in the Indy area) and a pumpkin ale for Halloween time. Just bottled an IPA...the wait is killing me. I guess I'll have to drink Two Hearted for the next week or two

 

[unionrdr]

1) When topping off in your primary (I'm using a 6.5 gal carboy), do you always top to 5 gal? And how do you have your carboy marked? (currently I have a piece of tape at the 5 gal mark)

Reason for the question is I believe my measurements may be off. At bottling time i usually bottle approx 44-48 beers....I think 5 gal should make more, in the 60 bottle range (?).

2) Second but on topic, if a recipe calls for a 5 gal batch (boil 2.5 gal and top off with 2.5 gal) and you only top with lets say 1.5 gal, will this raise your ABV or IBUs?

3) On kit (extract) recipes which calls for a 2.5 gal boil, can I boil all 5 gal?

Great forum...3 brews in, gets easier each time . Looking forward to my next two I have lined up, a Nut Brown (GFI kit for those in the Indy area) and a pumpkin ale for Halloween time. Just bottled an IPA...the wait is killing me. I guess I'll have to drink Two Hearted for the next week or two

48 bottles is what we got out of my wife's 5G batch. I've read that 54 is about max for 5G. I brew 6G batches,& get 64-66 bottles max. Topping off a little less can give a bit more mouth feel,& a tad more ABV,but not very much.
Yes,you can do a full volume boil,but it seems to me you have to adjust hop amounts to adjust for the full volume. I'm waiting on my IPA to age now as well,Have an EB just about ready to bottle.

 

[usfmikeb]

I haven't done a topping off process in many years, but you can top off to achieve a certain gravity target. Let's say you're 2.5 gallon wort has a gravity of 1.080, and if you made it into a 5 gallon batch, it would then be 1.040. Let's say you really want it to be a bit stronger, and decide to set a target OG of 1.060. Instead of adding in 2.5 gallons of sterilized H2O, you'd add in only 3.5 quarts. The math for that is 80 points times 2.5 gallons equals 200 points. 200 points divided by target of 60 equals 3.33 gallons. 3.33 gallons minus 2.5 gallons equals .833 gallons that need to be added.

Yes, that will impact your ABV, and you'll want to think about doing this in advance of the brew, so that you can adjust your hops to get to the appropriate IBUs.

Finally, yes you can boil all 5 gallons on a kit recipe that calls for boiling half and topping off. The recipe is just set to be a bit simpler for the brewer that has less hardware.

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

Topping off or boiling less won't increase abv. Boiling less will lower your hop utilization, thus giving you a lower than expected IBU.

 

[NattyBrew]

1) Topping off to five gallons is just fine. Even though I brew all grain and my process is a little different, I still aim for 5.5 or maybe even six gallons of beer into my carboys at the end of my brew day. This way, when I go to keg or bottle I can rack my beer off the trub and not worry about leaving some beer behind in the name of getting a cleaner final beer.

5 gallons is 640 ounces, which when divided into 12 ounce beers gets you 53 or so beers. That's about right on when people say a 5 gallon batch yields just about two cases of beer.

2) Topping off with less water will concentrate your sugars in your wort, and in theory the alcohol produced by the yeast, so one could assume that it would yield a higher ABV beer. It also depends on some other factors regarding the make up of your wort, but in general you should end up with a stronger beer.

3) Yes you can, and should! Boiling a full five gallons is one of the best and easy steps you can do to make your extract brewing better. A full wort boil will yield a less concentrated wort boil, better hop utilization, as well as limit some of the browning reactions which can occur in a smaller boil and alter the flavor of the beer. Go for it if you can.

3 brews in is only the begining, every time you brew you nail down your process just a little bit more, so brew often.

Matt

 

[JohnnyShotgun]

Thanks guys. As always, great info.

 

[HomebrewMTB]

1. You should top off to the amount stated in the recipe. Deviating will affect your OG. Theoretically you could get 53.3 x 12 oz beers out of 5 gallons but in reality with trub and all, it ends up being less. You can work on your techniques to maximize your yield. Start with Revvy's bottling tips for some good ideas:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/bottling-tips-homebrewer-94812/

2. Shorting the water would technically raise you abv and ibu, but it would also significantly alter the taste and style of the beer. 20% less water is HUGE difference and I would suggest a different recipe instead.

3. Yes, you can do full boil. You might want to reduce your bittering hops to compensate for better utilization. If you don't want to top off at all, you probably need at least 6 gallons so you have 5 remaining after the boil.

 

[JohnnyShotgun]

3) Yes you can, and should! Boiling a full five gallons is one of the best and easy steps you can do to make your extract brewing better. A full wort boil will yield a less concentrated wort boil, better hop utilization, as well as limit some of the browning reactions which can occur in a smaller boil and alter the flavor of the beer. Go for it if you can.

3 brews in is only the begining, every time you brew you nail down your process just a little bit more, so brew often.

Matt

I have heard when doing a full boil some people boil 6 gal to account for evaporation, any thoughts?

 

[usfmikeb]

That's correct, you'll need to account for evaporation. The amount needed is dependent upon the rate of the boil, the size of your pot, the length of the boil, etc. You'll need to practice it to dial in your equipment.

 

[unionrdr]

Yes,part of it steam away during the boil,or until it finally boils in the case of stove top. I have to use at least 2.75G so that when it does boil,I've got about 2.5G.

 

[NattyBrew]

If you have a pot big enough to also account for the boil off during the hour long boil then by all means go for it. I started with a 3 gallon pot when I started with extract and then was able to upgrade to a 6 gallon canning pot after a couple of brews. This pot allowed me to start with 5 or so gallons and then end up with about 4 gallons after an hour long boil. This was a huge improvement over the beers in my smaller pot.

The thing you have to remember is that you need a good gallon or so of head room in your pot otherwise you are guaranteed to have a stove covered in hot, sticky wort when your pot inevitably boils over. On my stove, my boil off was about one gallon an hour so that means I would have needed to start with 6 gallons of wort to end up with 5 gallons at the end of the boil. Then taking the extra headroom into account to prevent boil overs I needed a 7 gallon pot.

My electric stove at the time had a hard time getting my 5 gallons of wort to a boil, so I just jumped to a turkey fryer kit which moved my brewing outside but included a 7 gallon aluminum pot and allowed me to do a true full wort boil. You may have a better gas stove, or maybe the ability to use two burners in your kitchen but that was the only problem I ran into when I was increasing my pot size towards a full wort boil.

Matt

 

[Rogue14]

Buying some fermcap will help with any boilovers you might have due to larger boils and a smaller kettle. I have been boiling 7 gallons in a 7.5 gallon kettle. The fermcap has helped a lot when added right as the boil starts. It gives you time to adjust your temperature.