Where'd my beer go?

[Peevish]

Sorry if this has been addressed elsewhere, I wasn't sure what to search.
So I've just done my very first bottling session. Preparation was a bit of a pig, but I enjoyed the actual bottle filling - very therapeutic somehow . However, I only ended up with 43 bottles. As far as I have read, 5 gallons should yield a couple of cases plus a six pack, so 54 or thereabouts. So what gives?

(I had a little left at the end of ransfering between vessels and racking, but not more than 1 bottle's worth in all.)

 

[BradleyBrew]

I typically lose some in the trub... and a few ounces here and there with hydro readings, racking, etc.

 

[seckert]

yes i normally get just about 2 cases. depending on how many samples you have taken and also if u have moved to a secondary or not that will effect the end state amount...

 

[Frankiesurf]

That is exactly what i ended up with in my first batch. I chalked it up to some lost in the trub. I did a few seperate hydrometers readings and I spilled some.

Nothing to worry about. That will just be 43 beers that you didn't have before you started.

Don't cry over lost beer. Wait... that's wrong. DO cry over lost beer but keep it to a minimum.

 

[Peevish]

Ok good to know its not unusual to lose this amount. I did go to secondary too. Thanks guys!

I guess now I should probably stop shooting accusing looks at my suspicious acting cat...

 

[Revvy]

One of the main reasons I use month long primaries is because, in that month, everything in the beer settles AND the yeast cake compresses, and become concrete tight, basically giving me back beer most people lose by racking to a secondary, and/or not letting everything settle long enough. So when I rack I am literally racking the beer off the surface of the trub, leaving almost no beer behind. That combined with my use of the bottling bucket dip tube as shown in my bottling sticky, gives me usually between 52 and 54 beers per batch.

 

[bighorn_brew]

6 gallon recipes are nice cause you get a full 5 gallons plus a few extras. Especially nice since a 6.5 gallon brew bucket will accommodate 6, then blowoff, 6 goes into secondary (sometimes I use'm sometimes I don't) and fills up with a minimum of open headspace. A full five goes into carboy, and a near liter goes into a "smart water" bottle so I can use a carbonater cap to get a quickie carbed beer to satisfy my curiosity, then put the CO2 onto the keg....even when I didn't keg, not getting a full five gallons into bottles and growlers (I know I know), used to irk me and pushed me to brewing 6 gallons at a time.

 

[Peevish]

One of the main reasons I use month long primaries is because, in that month, everything in the beer settles AND the yeast cake compresses, and become concrete tight, basically giving me back beer most people lose by racking to a secondary, and/or not letting everything settle long enough. So when I rack I am literally racking the beer off the surface of the trub, leaving almost no beer behind.

Yea that's a good point - I think I must've lost the beer going to secondary, because I got most all of the liquid out while bottling. I definitely will not be going to secondary on my next brews. In fact I'm planning to fill my carboy with apfelwein to take away the temptation to secondary my beers

 

[BlainD]

Maybe you didn't add enough water after cooling? is your bucket marked? Did you factor in the loss of water during your boil?

 

[kevokie]

That combined with my use of the bottling bucket dip tube as shown in my bottling sticky, gives me usually between 52 and 54 beers per batch.

I have got to try the bottling bucket dip tube, I bet I'm wasting a good two or three beers by not doing so.

 

[RM-MN]

How did you measure your 5 gallons of beer? The marks on the bucket? They are an approximation at best. Did you carefully separate the wort from the trub when you put it in the fermenter? You could have lost quite a bit there too. Just dump it all in and let the yeast take care of it. Each time you move beer it seems that you leave some behind and that all adds up too.

So you only got 43 bottles. Were they filled to the top or did you leave a little headspace? How much headspace? 43 bottles times a little extra headspace adds another bottle.