5 gallon batch only yields 3.5 gal/Problems?

I used all 5 gallons of water in my boil. I bottled this weekend using 2 cups water with 3/4 cup priming sugar. After it was all bottled the batch only yielded 3.5 gallons of brew. I have the following questions:

1) Will my bottles explodes? Did I use too much priming sugar because the recipe was intended for 5 gallons of beer.

2) When brewing using a full boil should one top off after the boil to return the volume to 5 gallons?

3) Is the head space for a 22oz bottle the same as the that of 12oz bottle?

 

In general, 1 - 1/4 cups DME or 3/4 cups corn sugar is the correct amount to prime 5 gallons of brew. So you'd need to adjust that amount based on your own preferences for carb level and the total amount of beer you are priming.

I always top off for a full 5 gallons in primary at start. From there on I take what I get; so if I have a good deal of trub in primary, it's not uncommon to drop a 1/2 gallon or so for the final amount bottled.

Generally you want 1-3 inches of headspace. Pretty much the same air volume for both 12 or 22 oz bottles.

Have fun,
Marc.

 

It's a safe bet to say that you will lose damn near a gallon of water during a 60 minute boil. So right there you're at 4 gallons. After siphoning at least twice, maybe 3 times to avoid trub, you can easily lose more. I'm surprised you lost .5 gallons, but it can happen. You want to ferment 5 gallons, that's the key. I actually fermented about 5.25 gallons in the hopes that I would end up with 5 gallons even.

 

How big is your pot? You want to start with at least 6 gallons if you boil for 60mins. I usually start with about 6.25 to end up with 5.25 in the primary.

 

I think I have an 8 gallon kettle. Won't there be some dilution if I use a recipe for 5 gallons using 6.25? Wouldn't the flavor etc be altered or is there no real difference?

 

The recipe is for finished volume not pre boil volume.
So 6.25 gallon down to 5 gallon will be right for the amount of ingredients.

 

I second what Bobby and Orfy said... errr... I mean, I third it.

Imagine you only added one gallon of water, you would have very concentrated wort with a really high OG. That's fine. There's nothing wrong with having a strong beer. However, the higher the wort's gravity, the lower your hops utilization. In other words, you need to add more hops to a high gravity brew in order to achieve the same level of bitterness.

Think of it as like adding sugar to water. You've got a gallon of water and the first cup of sugar dissolves readily, but the more sugar you add, the slower it is to dissolve. The same thing happens with the Alpha Acids in hops.

So, instead of topping off, if you boil down to the post-boil volume (5 gallons), you will save on ingredients since you will need less hops. Then again, depending on how you boil, the hops may be cheaper than the extra propane.


Cheers!!