Volume of Water to Use

[ErsteBrau]

Hi All,

Semantic question - quite often recipes say to add LME and then ensure total volume of water is 10 litres, for example. When it says add water so total volume is 10 litres, do recipes mean 10 litres of water, or 10 litres of water + the LME as the LME has increased the volume of the wort?

Cheers,
D.

 

[andy6026]

The LME does not increase the volume significantly.

 

[Captain Damage]

The LME does not increase the volume significantly.

Sure it does. It has volume that contributes to the total. A can of LME is about a liter. If you want 10 liters total, you'd add 9 liters of water.

As far as your recipe goes, calibrating your fermentation vessel ahead of time makes it easier to hit your final volume. So yes, you're looking for 10 liters total fional volume after all the LME has been added.

As an asside, it's a better practice to target a gravity rather than a volume. It's true that when brewing with extract, going by calculations and volume will generally get you within a point of your target gravity. But if/when you graduate to more advanced techniques such as partial mash and all grain, gravity can be a bit more variable and it's what you need to pay attention to. Your starting gravity ("OG," in brewing parlance) has the greatest influence on the balance and strength of your finished beer.