First Batch Is A Little Short

[Trulyphe]

I started small and I am doing 1 gallon batches, I boiled 1.25 gallons and the carboy looks like it maybe has a little over 3/4 gallon. Anyone else have this issue and how much water is too much water to start the wort with for a 1 gallon batch?

Thanks!!!

 

[bobeer]

people have that issue no matter what size batch they're brewing. You just have to figure out the boil off rate for your equipment. Put a gallon of water in your pot and boil it for an hour and see how much is left then do the math and over compensate for that much when you're boiling your wort.

 

[Arrheinous]

The boil-off rate is going to depend on the boiling pot and the burner you used. It sounds like your boil-off rate is 0.5 gallons per hour. Next time start with 1.5 gallons rather than 1.25.

 

[CKing]

Not sure, but I boil 7 gallons to get 5.5 gallons into the fermenter leaving some of the wort w/ debris left in the kettle and end up with 5.0 to 5.25 gallons of bottle beer after all is said and done.
You gotta account for some % of waste.

 

[Trulyphe]

Awesome, I will do that with the next batch. i also need to learn to not get so much trub into the fermentor when I move it from the pot lol

 

[agrazela]

Beer gremlins snuck into your house last night and drank some of your wort.

Lay out lots of rat traps tonight, but don't tell anyone else in the house about them because, well, loose lips and all that.

 

[Trulyphe]

Ha! Damn beer gremlins. I'm super stoked about my first batch of beer in about a month or so.

 

[Arrheinous]

Awesome, I will do that with the next batch. i also need to learn to not get so much trub into the fermentor when I move it from the pot lol

Are you siphoning or dumping it into a funnel?

 

[Hello]

How much water is too much? It would depend. If you aim for 1 gallon and get over 1 gallon but hit your target OG then technically that was not too much water. If you undershoot your water, which you did, and still hit your target OG then that is okay but you need to dial in your equipment. This is something that I have yet to accomplish 100%. I am getting there but I doubt I'll ever really be there it seems.

So did you hit your target OG? was it too low? If too low I'd let it ride. If too high you could top off to the gallon if you're so inclined.

 

[Trulyphe]

Are you siphoning or dumping it into a funnel?

Siphoning into the carboy, it was my first time doing it and I think I got too much trub in the carboy.

 

[Trulyphe]

How much water is too much? It would depend. If you aim for 1 gallon and get over 1 gallon but hit your target OG then technically that was not too much water. If you undershoot your water, which you did, and still hit your target OG then that is okay but you need to dial in your equipment. This is something that I have yet to accomplish 100%. I am getting there but I doubt I'll ever really be there it seems.



So did you hit your target OG? was it too low? If too low I'd let it ride. If too high you could top off to the gallon if you're so inclined.

It was a bit below the 1gal mark on the carboy which is where I was trying to get to, I think I know the boil rate now and will test it out in a few days when I make a caribou slobber kit that I have.

 

[EJay]

I started small and I am doing 1 gallon batches, I boiled 1.25 gallons and the carboy looks like it maybe has a little over 3/4 gallon. Anyone else have this issue and how much water is too much water to start the wort with for a 1 gallon batch?

Thanks!!!

I shoot for about 1.9 gallons total, but I am doing all-grain BIAB and a bunch gets soaked up by the grain. Maybe 1.6 goes into the boil, and I end up with a little over a gallon usable (say, 1.1g) after I siphon off and leave as much trub behind. But doing this, I get 10 bottles yielded.

1.25 definitely seems a little low to me. It will depend on your equipment and how much boil-off you get.

If I were you I'd do at least 1.5 and go from there. Be sure to use a blowoff tube the first few days of fermentation, particularly if you're going a little over a gallon in the fermenter.

The beauty of the tiny batches is you can get so many going at once.

What are you brewing?

 

[Trulyphe]

Right now I have a honey ale and a caramel apple cider going. Thursday I'm going to brew a caribou slobber.

I like small batch so far let's me get a feel for it without spending a lot of money at once. I'm going to up to 1.5 gallons next time to make sure I can leave more trub behind. 👍

 

[teleplucker]

I shoot for about 1.9 gallons total, but I am doing all-grain BIAB and a bunch gets soaked up by the grain. Maybe 1.6 goes into the boil, and I end up with a little over a gallon usable (say, 1.1g) after I siphon off and leave as much trub behind. But doing this, I get 10 bottles yielded.

I start at about 1.75 gallons for AG mashing in a stock pot in a warm oven. Plus a bit more for yeast rehydration...

 

[Arrheinous]

Siphoning into the carboy, it was my first time doing it and I think I got too much trub in the carboy.

As long as your trub isn't keeping you from putting more wort in the fermenter it's not hurting anything. It'll compact by the time the beer's ready. Personally I dump all of the kettle into the carboys.

Or if you want to avoid it: Stir the kettle so the trub piles up in the center after cooling and wait 10 minutes before siphoning from the sides. Just a tip.

 

[Trulyphe]

Sweet I will try that next time, people are also saying to us whirloc?