Number of bottles produced--is this off?

[jpb3]

Ok, my first batch yielded 42 bottles, as did the second. I was under the impression that a single five gallon batch would be around fifty. Now, of course, eight less may be seen as nitpicky, but come on---eight beers is eight beers. I understand the mathematics of it, and the displacement from hops, etc. (My batches have been malt extract batches, and this most recent one had a good amount of sludge at the bottom), so here's my question: when brewing and the wort has cooled down, should i add water to the five and a half gallon mark? Or should I be happy with my 42 bottles of beer?

 

[Yooper]

It's up to you- I usuallly have about 5.25 gallons in the primary but if you're doing extract and you add more water in primary, you'll lower your og a little. You'd have the 5 gallons, though. I would just settle for the amount you're getting, if you're happy with the beer you make.

 

[jpb3]

That's what I figured. Better to be satisfied than greedy. On a different note--your pic beneath your name is darn near identical to the view we have from our dock here at home. Cheers.

 

[Yooper]

That's what I figured. Better to be satisfied than greedy. On a different note--your pic beneath your name is darn near identical to the view we have from our dock here at home. Cheers.

Oh, I love that pic! We just bought a cottage this summer, and that's a picture I took from our dock. The cottage is about 10 miles from our house, so we've spent alot of time out there.

 

[ranch]

Loss of beer is why I brew 5.5 gallon batches every time these days. By the time I get into secondary I don't need to worry about headroom and I always get a nice full keg at the end of the day.

 

[ohiobrewtus]

Just enjoy the beer you make. fwiw I normally end up with anywhere between 48-53 bottles. If I dry hop I always end up with somewhere between 42-47.

 

[Ó Flannagáin]

Yea, you can easily just adjust your recipe a little to a 5.5 gallon batch. Just a couple dollars more ingredients at the most and you will get those extra 8 beers.

 

[jpb3]

Yeah, I guess the ingredient part is next on the list. My two batches have been extracts and the only ingredients have been the syrup and three bags of pellets. Oh, and water. Still trying to figure out how to read the beer recipes and what I need exactly. Next on the list.

 

[KBrew75]

Make sure you calibrate your fermenting/measuring bucket. I kept missing my starging Gravity and couldn't figure out why.

I did some testing and it turns out the factory applied gallon markers on my fermenter were off by almost .4 Gallons. To verify my measuring devices were correct, I took some measurements of the fermenter with calipers and calculated volume. Sure enough it's off on the high side.

What I thought was 5 gallons was actually 5.4 Gallons.