1 Gallon Batch

[Scluke]

So I just brewed my first 1 gallon batch. I've made multiple 5 gallon batches with some friends, thought I'd try my hand at a gallon on my own. Was kind of nice, I was able to do it in my kitchen on the stove rather than on a burner outside. It was an extract brew so I had to add water to the carboy to bring it back up to 1 gallon after the boil off. I took a refractometer reading before I put the wort into the carboy so it was pretty concentrated, the reading was quite high. Target OG was 1.077, reading was 1.174. Is this because it was so concentrated before I brought it up to 1 gallon?

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

You measured the wort before adjusting to the desired volume, so the gravity measurement will be higher.

 

[Scluke]

You measured the wort before adjusting to the desired volume, so the gravity measurement will be higher.

That's what I figured. Live and learn, right?

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

You may want to look into your boil off rate. Some quick calculations suggest that you may have boiled off around two quarts of water - which seems high.

Here's a video which talks about various levels of boil intensity. For my extract batches, i boil at the "simmer" level and get good results.

 

[CascadesBrewer]

1.174?? My hydrometer maxes out at 1.160.

My calculations say that the equivalent of 1 gallon of 1.077 wort would be 0.44 gallons of 1.174 wort. If you had to add over half a gallon to bring the total up to the 1 gallon mark, then your measurements seem fine (but maybe boiling too hard or you could start with more water).

 

[Scluke]

You may want to look into your boil off rate. Some quick calculations suggest that you may have boiled off around two quarts of water - which seems high.

Here's a video which talks about various levels of boil intensity. For my extract batches, i boil at the "simmer" level and get good results.

Thank you for the video. I definitely would benefit from boiling a little slower.

 

[Scluke]

1.174?? My hydrometer maxes out at 1.160.

My calculations say that the equivalent of 1 gallon of 1.077 wort would be 0.44 gallons of 1.174 wort. If you had to add over half a gallon to bring the total up to the 1 gallon mark, then your measurements seem fine (but maybe boiling too hard or you could start with more water).

I would say it was about a half gallon I added, maybe a little less. But that makes sense. Thank you.