Top off water for fermenter

[eabearce]

Hi there, fairly new to brewing and first time posting on HomeBrewTalk. The problem that I am having is that I have ran one gallon short after transferring my chilled wort into my fermenter, and I have had to top off on my last two recipes. I am using BeerSmith, and wish to know if there is anywhere in this software for me to add an extra gallon of water in so that I do not have to top off the fermenter. Any suggestions are appreciated

 

[progmac]

are you doing all grain? what's your basic equipment setup?

you've got to start by setting up an equipment profile with the appropriate sized vessels, then you need to plug in little things -- tun/kettle deadspace, boil-off rate, etc.

 

[eabearce]

Sorry forgot to mention that I am doing all grain :cross: Thanks for the info on that. I did set up an equipment profile based on what I was using. I use a 1/2 bbl with the top cut off as my boil kettle, same for my hot liquor tank, and a 5 gallon Igloo cooler as my mash tun. In what field would you recommend that I add that extra gallon?

 

[fixitoscar]

If you are hitting your preboil volume correctly then you need to up your boil off rate.
If your preboil is low its probably a mashtun deadspace issue

 

[eabearce]

Thanks everyone, I just went out and created a water gauge with a dip tube from an old bbl. I will definitely pay closer attention to my pre and post boil amounts and decide from there what I need to correct.

 

[progmac]

Thanks everyone, I just went out and created a water gauge with a dip tube from an old bbl. I will definitely pay closer attention to my pre and post boil amounts and decide from there what I need to correct.

Sounds like you know what you need to do!