Worried about sediement and carboy volume

[bbell21]

Second all time batch of all grain here. This receipt called for a 1.5 oz hop additional at flame out.

1.) I'm concerned I did not come close to post boil volume. This is a 6.5 gallon carboy I just purchased today and it looks extremely short. Any idea from you experienced guys where my volume might be at?

2.) Since this is the first time I've been able to see the trub, is this amount normal? I feel like it comes up over 1.5 gallons worth, a lot more than I'm comfortable with but I knew it would be different with a late hop addition.

 

[ncsuwerewolf]

It will settle hard. Whats really nice is the cold break from a counter flow chiller. Since you are chilling on the way to the fermenter it looks like goose down floating in your wort. I went back to a huge immersion chiller as i can pump ice water after ground water becomes innefective.

 

[thunderwagn]

Second all time batch of all grain here. This receipt called for a 1.5 oz hop additional at flame out.

1.) I'm concerned I did not come close to post boil volume. This is a 6.5 gallon carboy I just purchased today and it looks extremely short. Any idea from you experienced guys where my volume might be at?

2.) Since this is the first time I've been able to see the trub, is this amount normal? I feel like it comes up over 1.5 gallons worth, a lot more than I'm comfortable with but I knew it would be different with a late hop addition.

Just for reference, here is 5.6 gallons in my 6.5 gallon carboy with 2 oz flame out hop addition. It's been in there for about 4 hrs now and has settled out quit a bit. When first added, the trub and cold break appeared to be about half the carboy. As you can see, it does settle out and will eventually compact nicely.
I measured out volumes and marked my carboy for reference. I also use a measuring stick for comparison. The top piece of tape with the black line is 6 gallons in my carboy.
If you don't already, use a biab water calc like priceless: http://pricelessbrewing.github.io/B...ub=0.0&LossFermTrub=0.5&Gabs=0.08&Habs=0.0365
You can calculate your volumes easily and it's very accurate.


Not sure what your target "batch" was, and carboys can be different (mines over 20 yrs old) but you look to be in the 5 gallon range. Once you know your #'s and efficiencies, it's very easy to adjust your volumes. I like mine in the 5.5 gallon range to the fermentor as I know my losses. I will have 5 gallons ( actually a tad lower) to bottle.

Yours looks fine IMO!

 

[bbell21]

My target was 5.41 gallons, it just looks really short. Maybe not though?

 

[bbell21]

Eeeeeeek looks like start of an infection??????

 

[bbell21]

I'm just a worry wort, maybe I was better off using plastic buckets lol I just never know and I thought glass would help me understand fermentation better but now I see things like this and get concerned

 

[Yesfan]

It's your second all grain batch. How many batches have you done total? RDWHAHB.

The last pic looks like yeast rafts coming up and the first pic looks like a freshly racked wort from the kettle. I had a 2.5 gallon batch that looked "worse" than yours and it turned out to be a killer beer in the end.

 

[Horseshoot]

RDWHAHB!!! It will make beer!!

Mike

 

[cannman]

Don't worry about it!

Here are some tips:

1) Get a measuring cup and stand by the sink with your empty carboy, and ever 8 cups of water, with a wax based permanent marker (not your standard sharpie), draw a line. This will measure your vol on your carboy by half gallon ticks.

2) Have cool preboiled water to top off if volume means that much to you. Better yet add another half gallon to your boil so that your boil-off will account for that dead space in your carboy. It will lower your measured OG but if you over shoot OG then who cares. Don't forget to leave space for your yeast action.

3) Consider using a hop bag from @wilserbrewer to contain that hop trub

Brew on!

 

[wilserbrewer]

From the first pic, I would be much more worried that you didn't make enough beer, and your volume to fermenter, less yeast cake and trub loss will be way below your anticipated 5 gallons.

The trub will compact with time, not a concern.
Lack of beer, now that's something to worry about.

 

[bbell21]

Holy smokes has it settled! I pitched hot this time I want some fruity ester so I decided to pitch at 80 degrees. Checked before bed last night and some co2 action but no bubbles yet, woke up this morning it was 66 degrees and bubbling its booty away. Cannot believe how much it's compacted overnight!! Can't wait to dry hop it in two weeks

 

[bbell21]

From the first pic, I would be much more worried that you didn't make enough beer, and your volume to fermenter, less yeast cake and trub loss will be way below your anticipated 5 gallons.

The trub will compact with time, not a concern.
Lack of beer, now that's something to worry about.

That's the weird part I used beer smith for all volumes and checked my pre boil gravity and my OG and I was right on the money!!!

 

[wilserbrewer]

Did you actually measure volumes?

What you actually have in the kettle is more important than what BS estimates.

 

[cannman]

That's the weird part I used beer smith for all volumes and checked my pre boil gravity and my OG and I was right on the money!!!

You'll now have to adjust the boil off rate.

 

[bbell21]

Did you actually measure volumes?

What you actually have in the kettle is more important than what BS estimates.

Yes I did and last brew I did not have as significant of a boil off rate, I started boil with 6.5 gallons (target was 6.41) 60 min boil. I just find it hard to believe I boiled off over 1.5 gal..I do have a polar ware wide mouth kettle though.

 

[bbell21]

I'm going to measure out the carboy after this batch to see what my volume was. I measured it from ground up with a tape measure so I can be sure

 

[Yesfan]

Yes I did and last brew I did not have as significant of a boil off rate, I started boil with 6.5 gallons (target was 6.41) 60 min boil. I just find it hard to believe I boiled off over 1.5 gal..I do have a polar ware wide mouth kettle though.

I have a wide mouth 15 gallon Concord and it has a much bigger boil off rate than my 10 gallon Bayou Classic. The Bayou is about a gallon lost for 60 minutes with a 5 gallon batch. The Concord is almost double that.

I'm going to measure out the carboy after this batch to see what my volume was. I measured it from ground up with a tape measure so I can be sure

You could also just use one gallon pitchers of water too and mark off every gallon as you go up. Then save the 5 or 6 gallons of that water for your next brew.

 

[bbell21]

Thanks for all the help. All very useful advice, it's so weird seeing the fermentation go!!! Now there are little sud bubbles showing on the Krausen, how cool.

 

[Yesfan]

Thanks for all the help. All very useful advice, it's so weird seeing the fermentation go!!! Now there are little sud bubbles showing on the Krausen, how cool.

You should be alright considering the head space you have in your carboy, but in future batches, consider using a blow off tube when you hit the correct volumes. You'll be surprised how big the krausen will get on an active fermentation.

 

[pshankstar]

My first BIAB I thought something was wrong with the amount of sediment, hot break material, etc... But as you can see from my thread it compacted very nicely. Oh and yes, a blow off tube is highly encouraged if you fill the carboy any higher next time.

I redid this brew again recently and changed the hop schedule, tweaked the grain bill a little and the same thing is going on. Blow off tube installed right from the beginning and the trub is compacting nicely.

Check on my thread and you will see that my carboy was almost half full before it settled and compacted. Oh and not to mention this was the best beer I have made so far!