Low Yield

[chrismccull]

I brewed my first batch yesterday and the yield was much less than expected.  According to Beer Smith, I should have boiled-off 0.5 gallons, but boiled off more than one.  When this happens, would you top the carboy off with water to bring the volume up?  I must have had the heat too high.  

[Dave Savoie]

you need to check you gravity and if you hit your mark do not add any water how ever if it is higher than expected then you can boil water chill and add until you reach your target gravity

[chrismccull]

An IPA Dean.

The instructions I was following called for a pre-boil volume of 5.5 Gallons, doesn't that seem low?  Most other instructions call for a pre-boil volume of close to 7 gallons.

[Dave Savoie]

Hmmmm nothing wrong with a higher ABV ipa is there ?

[Richard]

Yeah that's pretty low... would want at least 6.5 pre-boil if you're kegging. 1 gallon loss from that point is normal.

[chrismccull]

Yeah, Beer Smith recommends 6.96 gallons calculated for the same recipe, pre-boil.  I guess the instructions that came with the grain kit, were wrong.

Do you turn the heat down quite a bit once you have a rolling boil?  I kept it rather high, one setting below Max.

[Richard]

the instructions that came with the grain kit, were wrong.

Sounds about right... pretty common theme tbh.

I tend to boil as hard as I can on whatever equipment I'm using, especially with IPA's... helps the hop utilisation.

[chrismccull]

Perfect, thanks Gents, that helps.

[Kyle]

a note on boil-off to keep in mind is that stove-top brewers can generally only get a gentle boil, meaning they may only boil off half or three quarters of a gallon, but with propane, it will be much more.

[Chris Craig]

Beersmith doesn't know what your boil off rate is until you tell it. There are some profiles that come with it that are a best guess, but you really need to figure that out yourself, and make your own equipment profile.

And, no offence Richard, but boiling as hard as you can??  If you remember, when I brewed at your house, I boiled off an extra half-gallon or so more than I expected...and I had the gas turned down half-way.  That was a rolling boil.  With my new burner, I boil off about 15%/hr when the gas is turned way down. If I boiled as hard as I could, I'd have 3 gallons of wort at the end of an hour!

I suggest that you get rolling boil going.  The surface of the wort should be churning nicely.  You don't want it splashing all over the place.

[Richard]

And, no offence Richard, but boiling as hard as you can??  If you remember, when I brewed at your house, I boiled off an extra half-gallon or so more than I expected...and I had the gas turned down half-way.

I'm a stove-top brewer for the most part at the moment, but when I used propane I had to jack it right up to get a decent rolling boil... your equipment and results may vary.

I suspect there's a point at which the heat might scorch things, but I've never seen it.

[chrismccull]

My Beer Smith evap rate is set to 8.3% by default, does that sound reasonable for a stove-top?

[Richard]

Reasonable sure, but you're best off measuring it.

[Jake]

5.5 gallons is not american gallons. I remember that from previous instructions in my earlier days and had the same problem. It's suggesting 5.5 Canadian gallons which is like 25 liters. That's what I shoot for pre boil.

[chrismccull]

haha, that's it, they are a Canadian store.  That works out to 6.6 USG.