How much water goes into the fermenter(5 gallons)?

[Tree55Topz]

Hi everyone,
I am moving up from a 2 gallon brew kit to a 6.5 fermenter. I constructed a recipe for a 5 gallon batch, and while I have the boiling part planned out, Im still not sure how much water to a)put in the fermenter before I pour in the cooled wort and b) how much should go in after. Any suggestions? Thanks!

 

[webby45wr]

Are you doing a full boil or partial boil? I like to have 5.25 to 5.5 in the fermenter. If I'm doing a full boil, I start with 6.5 in my kettle, which gives me 5.5 in the fermenter.

If I'm doing a partial boil, I'll do 3in the boil. Cool it and put in the fermeneter. Then I add water until I get to the 5.5 mark. This usually takes about 3 gallons.

 

[Tree55Topz]

Oh wow, I am really glad I asked. I was planning on only using 1.2 gallons during the boil and I am using 7.5lbs of LME. Would 3 gallons be a better amount? I would prefer to do a partial boil.

 

[narl79]

i do a full boil and also use 6.5 gallons in the kettle. but i have been getting diff results of how much ends up in fermenter. ive ended with 6 gallons and a batch of 5.5 going into the fermenter. it depends on boil temp and what your putting in the kettle to brew. i think to start with 6.5 is a safe bet if anybody disagrees please let me know what you think as i only have 8 batches under my belt.

 

[norsk]

Depends on what your particular recipe calls for. If you are brewing a 5 gal batch, just add the difference between what you obtain with your partial boil with what you add to the fermenter. If I were you, I'd probably do a minimum of a 3 gal boil with 7.5 lbs of lme... then add 2 gal of water and you would be good to go. If you do a 1.2 gal boil then add 3.8 gal and so on. Depending on what OG you arrive at, the more water you add, the lower the OG will be. For a simple recipe as yours, just add enough water to make the fermenter reach what the recipe calls for. 5, 5.25, 5.5 etc.

 

[Tree55Topz]

Ahh, thank you all for the helpful advice. Im on the right track now. Still new to this, but I am learning much!

 

[Revvy]

If you're doing a top off, you top off to your final volume. If using a carboy mark it in half gallon increments, your buckets should already be marked. Cool your wort that you boiled, pour that into the fermenter, then "top off" with water until you hit your mark be it 5 or 5.5 or whatever your recipe calls for. As long as you're topping off to the correct final volume, in terms of gravity (leaving off the tedious arguments about hop utilization) it really doesn't matter what the amount of wort you boil down to...typically in stove top brewing you're brewing down to 2.5 gallons and topping off with another 2.5 gallon for a 5 gallon batch. But whether you end up boiling down to less or having more in your hour boil (if that's what your recipe calls for) the gravity will end up coming out correctly if your final volume is correct. If you over boil you concentrate your wort and raise the worts gravity by exactly the amount of water you boiled away, or if you under boil low by exactly as much water you have left in there. The gravity will be the same when it's mixed in with whatever volume of water you need to add in the fermenter. Because that's going to vary depending on how much wort you put in initially.

 

[bleme]

That is a lot of LME to concentrate into 2 gallons. It can be done, but it is going to be really hard to avoid scorching. I would add about 2-3 pounds at the start of the boil and then add the rest at flame-out. Chill, pour in the fermentor, and top off with water to the volume called for in the recipe.

I also have all my fermentors marked: 1,2,3, & 4 gallons, then by quarts up to 6 gallons.

 

[brycelarson]

Oh wow, I am really glad I asked. I was planning on only using 1.2 gallons during the boil and I am using 7.5lbs of LME. Would 3 gallons be a better amount? I would prefer to do a partial boil.

The general rule of thumb I give people is to boil as much as possible based on your boil kettle and burner. What size pot do you have?

 

[unionrdr]

As for me,I have a 5 gallon (20QT) SS BK/MT that I do 3.5 gallon boils in. With AE batches,I use 1.5lbs of plain DME in the boil. With PM,my mashed wort equals 50% of the fermentables,so I use that for hop additions,with 3-3.3lbs of extract in at flame out.