Missing beer - how to fill a keg?

[NewkyBrown]

I brew all grain and also keg my beers. I am having a hard time actually filling the keg to the top and usually end up with around 4-4.5 gallons. Not a huge deal but still that's a few pints going astray each time.

I usually have 7 gallons pre-boil and lose 1-1.5 gallons to evaporation. I end up with
5 .5 gallons in the fermenter. This leaves me short of a gallon in the keg, sometimes more if it's a hoppy beer.

Is this something I have to live with or are there bigger primaries then 6 gallon? I need a bit of head space to prevent a mess!

Thanks.

 

[Sailingeric]

I would just call it the angel's share :rockin: I just started kegging but if I did a 5 gallon batch and bottled into 22 oz bottles I almost always got 27 bottles when all done, or about 4.6 gallons of beer.

 

[Schecter]

Well, there are certainly bigger primaries if you want to go that route. I usually use my 6.5 gallon glass carboy and control my fermentations by starting at 62-64F and rising slowly over a week to 68F. If it's a big beer, like a RIS, I use a blowoff.
I also use my 5 gallon bucket which is marked up to 5 gallons but it is actually 6 I believe.
Stepping up my batches from 5 gallons to 6-6.5 gallons was a perfect solution for myself. If at 6.5 and near the top of the fermenter, consider fermcap-S to prevent the krausen from escaping. Keep in mind those hoppy IPAs/DIPAs will also leave you with less beer. When I brew a DIPA with 15oz of hops I always brew for 6.5 gallons.

Cheers.

 

[atom]

I use 7 gallon buckets and shoot for 5.5-6 gal into the fermentor. This allows me to fill a keg to the top plus fill a 2 liter bottle and carb it up quickly (with a carbinator cap) for a "sneak peek" at the kegged beer.

 

[motobrewer]

if you're getting 5.5g in the fermentor and only 4-4.5g in the keg you're doing something wrong. no way a gallon+ is being lost to trub. how do you know where the 5g mark is on your kegs?

i'd check your measurements (carboy markings, keg markings) again. 1 gallon of trub would be a ton.

 

[acidrain]

Ferment in 1/4 bbl kegs and pressure transfer to Corny's. Best time saver I ever did.

 

[NewkyBrown]

Maybe my numbers are off slightly. When I input a recipe in beersmith I currently select 5.5g for batch size. Is this when the beer is packaged or going into the fermenter? If I can increase my volumes by half a gallon and maybe use some fermcap in the primary then I maybe able to get a full keg.
Motobrewer, I will mark my fermenter with 1/2 gallon increments to make sure I'm hitting the right numbers. I have been making a few IPAs and hoppier pales recently so that could explain the extra trub I guess.

Thanks

 

[tsl346]

I use 6 gallon fermenters and fill it up right to the 6 gallon mark or slightly over with a blow off tube. This has worked pretty good for me being able to get a full 5 gallons into the keg.

 

[acidrain]

Maybe my numbers are off slightly. When I input a recipe in beersmith I currently select 5.5g for batch size. Is this when the beer is packaged or going into the fermenter? If I can increase my volumes by half a gallon and maybe use some fermcap in the primary then I maybe able to get a full keg.
Motobrewer, I will mark my fermenter with 1/2 gallon increments to make sure I'm hitting the right numbers. I have been making a few IPAs and hoppier pales recently so that could explain the extra trub I guess.

Thanks

It's finished product, but remember that BeerSmith only does what you tell it to. If your equipment profile has zero set as the fermentor trub loss, and you have 1/2 gallon of trub left behind, you'll be 1/2 gallon short.

 

[hogwash]

I'm pretty sure batch size in beersmith refers to what is going into your fermenter. I set mine for 6 and usually end up leaving a couple pints behind when I keg (kills me every time). There's also a setting in your equipment profile, I think, to account for equipment loss when calculating your mash and sparge water needs.

 

[hogwash]

Also, use a blowoff tube for your bigger beers.

 

[motobrewer]

Maybe my numbers are off slightly. When I input a recipe in beersmith I currently select 5.5g for batch size. Is this when the beer is packaged or going into the fermenter?

"Batch size" is volume into the fermentor.

If you go in your equipment profile you'll see additional values for fermentor losses. It'll then show you your estimated packaging volume. That number only shows up on the "fermentation" tab. I don't usually care about those. I don't dry hop very often so i just shoot for 5.25g in the fermentor and I get what I get. If I'm making IPAs with a lot of kettle hops I usually put batch size to 6g to account for more kettle loss and more dry-hop loss.

 

[Gavin C]

Batch size in beersmith is the volume that goes into the fermentor, not packaging volume. Having accurate volume markings on the fermentor is useful.

I use 6 gallon carboys.

5.5 gallon batches.

No problems getting 5 gallon kegs filled allowing for 1/2 gallon of fermentor losses to trub.

Something is not right if you are losing 1 to 1.5 gallons. Unless all your batches are blowing off (speaks to temperature control) or your leaving needlessly large volumes in the FV, your measures must be off.

here are some images that may be useful.

6 gallon carboy. 5.5 gallon batch (volume marks etched in glass)

Less than 1/2 gallon of trub at packaging.

 

[NewkyBrown]

Appreciate all the replies guys. I need to spend a bit of time marking my primaries and making a volume stick for the book kettle too.
I'm fairly good at racking so I guess I'm not filling the fermenter up to at least the 5.5g mark.
Also the 3 or 4 volcano like blow offs I've had were when the temps started a bit too high.
I started my latest batch at 63 and it is much more controlled and less likely to spill over.
It really is disappointing to have a lot of head room in a keg!!!