[sparkleberry]

so today i am calibrating my new kettle(various water levels to the quarter gallon and boil off tests) in preparation of brewing in the morning. 

anyway, to the point.  i'm going to be refining my new system pieces over the next few weeks.  however, i wanted to get some opinions/thoughts on how much beer people are losing for 5 gallon batches after fermenting.

i thought i would start with half a gallon and see where i am after a couple brews.

so, how much are you fellas and ladies leaving behind in the fermenter after bottling a 5 gallon batch with a siphon/racking cane?

thanks and cheers.

ryan   

[denny]

I started making 5.5 gal. batches to account for loss.  I almost always end up with more than 5 gal. when I keg it.

[sparkleberry]

that's about what i was thinking.

thanks denny!

[gymrat]

I lose 40 to 64 oz.

[euge]

I've always thought there was some evaporation as well as loss to the yeast-cake etc...

[bluesman]

Yeast, trub and beer accounts for roughly 0.5 gallons + or -. I like to siphon until I start to see cloudiness then stop the siphon at that point. I like to shoot 5.5 gal, but it's always better to target your gravity and not your volume IMO.

[weithman5]

i think you lose some volume do to contraction during the cooling process as well.

[tygo]

My batches are targeted at 6 gallons to make sure I have at least five gallons going into the keg/bottles at the end of the process.  Usually it's more than that but rarely more than 5.5 gallons and usually more like 5.25.

[brewsumore]

Yeast, trub and beer accounts for roughly 0.5 gallons + or -. I like to siphon until I start to see cloudiness then stop the siphon at that point. I like to shoot 5.5 gal, but it's always better to target your gravity and not your volume IMO.

Using ProMash, after some practice, now I normally can usually nail both desired volume and OG.

[theoman]

I fill the kettle up to about there, hope I have enough to fill the fermenter just above that line and try to leave most of the crud behind when bottling. I usually bottle within a liter or so of my 20 liter target. If I miss by more, oh well...

[saintpierre]

I aim for 5.75 to 6 gallons of cooled wort in my kettle so that I get about 5.5 gallons in my fermenter.  Along with Denny, I usually have more than 5 gallons transferring to the keg once fermentation is complete. 

[malzig]

i think you lose some volume do to contraction during the cooling process as well.

4%, so 5.5 gallons at the end of the boil will be 5.28 gallons chilled.

[Hokerer]

I aim for 5.5 gallons but usually end up with slightly more than that.  I only put 5.5 into the fermenter (6-Gallon Better Bottle) and dilute and pressure can the extra for use later in starters.

[davidgzach]

I started making 5.5 gal. batches to account for loss.  I almost always end up with more than 5 gal. when I keg it.

+1.  Same here.

[brewsumore]

I shoot for 5.5 gallons in the fermenter if planning to keg it and usually am very close to five gallons of beer after trub loss.  Today, I had huge hot and cold break formation on an 11-gallon batch of Citra IPA, most of which I left behind so ended up with 5.5 gallons in one bucket and 5 gallons in the other so will be 1/2 gallon shy in the keg from one fermenter.  Especially since I nailed my OG and was very close on my mash temp, right now this does not feel like much of a problem.