Final volume into keg

Hey everyone,

I'm having a difficult time figuring out how to phrase this question, so I haven't had much success looking through the forums for the answer. If this has already been discussed, please point me in the right direction.

When I brew on my stove top, I'm doing ~2.5 to 3 gallons in the kettle then up to just above the 5 gallon mark in my bucket. Because of the hops, yeast and other trub, when I transfer to secondary I end up with about 4 gallons of beer and eventually that's all that gets added to the keg. Should I be adding more water in the beginning so the final volume increases, or keep what I'm doing? The original and final gravities are within the range specified by the kits, which leads me to believe I'm doing the right thing, but I'm sad I'm missing out on a gallon of good homebrew.

 

Your loss of volume may be from transferring to secondary. I would skip the secondary.

You could always get a paint strainer bag and put it (sanitized) into the fermenting bucket and then pour in your wort. I do this and then squeeze the bag a bit as it drains to get my volume.

Since you are doing extract I dont see why you couldn't add water to the fermenter after the straining to bring the volume to where you want it. Just be sure its mixed in well with some gentle swirlling.

Another option would be to put your hops in a muslin bag for addition to the wort and pull them out when you are done.

However....I am in no way an expert brewer so lets see what the others with more experience have to say.

 

With experience you will be able to nail your volumes and gravity numbers every time. Figure our what your boil off rate is, then account for losses in the kettle for trub, which you should try to leave mostly behind, and losses in the fermenter, more trub. Then you should be able to calculate how much water to start with.
I normally start with 7.25 gallons at the start of a 60 min boil. With my boil off rate I'm left with 6 at the end of boil. I transfer 5.5 into the fermenter, then 5 into the keg. Software like Beersmith can help a lot with the numbers.
With your set-up it seems you could simply add more top up water to the fermenter. I would also skip the secondary, most people agree they are unnecessary.

 

The way I look at it is that I am far more interested in hitting my target OG, which is part of the beer's character, then some arbitrary packaging volume. If you add more water at the beginning in order to preserve it for the very end, you're diluting the beer more and lowering the OG. That wouldn't be my choice; I'd rather have less beer that came out as planned than more beer with possibly less flavor and body.

 

I try to match target OG, rather than target volume. I got 4.25 gal into the primary fermenter with my last 5 gal kit.

 

If you want both correct OG and larger volume plan your recipe that way. I always figure my 10 gal batches for about 11.25 in the kettle after chilling, because I know that is how much it takes to get 10g finished in the kegs, for my small batches I plan for 3 to get a full 2.5 in the keg.

 

Exactly how I feel, it is easy to adjust gravity in the recipe or on the fly. Take your gravity readings and adjust accordingly. I always take a preboil gravity reading as well as the post boil OG. If the preboil is where I expect it I know my post boil OG will be spot on because I know my boil off rate.

If the preboil gravity is too low then add some DME, too high then add some water to dilute it.

 

Like others have said, adjust your recipe. I almost always brew 6 gallon batches now and prepare my ingredients accordingly, so that I get at least 5 gallons in the keg. Especially if you dry hop, you are going to lose volume to the hops soaking some up.

 

The problem is that it's not some arbitrary packaging volume. It's the volume the kit is designed to yield when executed properly. I would guess there may be something off with how much you're leaving behind when racking. Don't fear the trub!!

Like others have said, you can always buy a little extra light DME to compensate if you have to add extra water.


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Understood, but that volume matters most during and immediately after the boil, not at the end of primary when transferring to secondary. By the time we are at that point (which was the OP's scenario), the beer is in its final form as far as gravity and ingredient concentration goes. So my point stands: I'd rather package 4 gallons of beer at target gravity than 5 gallons of diluted beer at lower gravity.

 

Thanks much for the help. I appreciate all the responses.

 

As Yooper said or suggested. Are you doing kits?