To get 5 I need 6?

[kevin]

Ok now I'm no longer a bottling virgin! Bottled my first batch tonite but only got 21 - 22oz bottles. Do I need to add one extra gallon at brew time to get my 5 gallons?

Also what is the typical alcohol value I calculated it to be 3.85% maybe a little low?

Live, learn, brew more, drink

[toneyc]

I think most of us do start with at least five and a quarter to five and a half gallons in the primary to make up for losses during transfers. If you're doing a full boil, then you may need to start with six gallons to account for evaporation, too. I don't do full boils, meaning I only boil about three gallons and top off my primary with clean water. YMMV.

:)
Toney.

[ray m]

Kevin, I read in a couple of publications that, in order to get a pretty good figure for what your abv is, subtract the finishing gravity from the original gravity, using only the last 2 numbers from each (for example OG 1.055 would be just "55") and multiply the result by .1275.

[Nacho]

This should answer your question....

http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter9-4.html

Nacho

[Jeff Lockhart]

Kevin,
I do full boils and usually start with 6.5 gal. in my kettle.
This gives me about 5.5 gal. in primary and just over 5 in secondary. At bottling (i don't anymore) I would usually get just shy of 5 gal.

Also, Alc. can be determined by subtracting initial gravity potential alc. from final gravity potential alc. eg. IG 1.065 - FG 1.016. Initial potential is 8.8%
final potential is 2.2%
Alcohol is 6.6%

You can get all this from the chart that comes with your hydrometer.

Cheers
Jeff

[kevin]

I think next time I brew "Sunday" I'll add and additional gallon and try that to see if I get closer to 5 gallons. What I did was use two 2.5 gallon bottled water containers. I did notice in the boil the volume dropped during the boil, plus I use a secondary and I don't know how much you lose in a transfer but I figured at least around 24oz.

[paul84043]

Don't overshoot by a full gallon, it will be too much. Depending on the particular beer, how much sediment you anticipate, wether you strain or not, if you put your hops in bags or just throw them straight in, adjust your amount of overfill.
I typically overfill by 1/4 gallon. But if I am doing a high sediment beer with alot of hops and grains, sometimes I'll end up with sedment past the 1/2 gallon mark!! So I'll add a bit more to compensate.
If you overfill too much, you'll just end up throwing it away when you completely fill your 5 gallon secondary. (assuming that you use a 5 gallon carboy as your secondary)

[kevin]

I brewed on Saturday night and made a Brewers Best Ocktoberfest. First time I use a yeast starter. When I made the starter and it cooled and added the yeast it started fermenting right away I thought it might come ozzing out of the bottle. I brew the kit to instructions with about 3 gallons of water predicting evaporation I also kept the grains and hops in a brew bag. Then I pour the entire worts to a cooled 2.5 gals of water then added about another 1/4 gallon to bring it to about 5.5 gallons total then I pitched my yeast covered and shuck the heck out of the primary. Place the primary in the basement. Finish at around 11.30pm check at 8.00am on Sunday and my airlock was humming, Monday morning it's still perking away. SG was 1.048 but since the temp at check was 82 degrees I assume my actual reading would be closer to 1.051. Smells good coming out of the airlock, kind of like a ESP. I got to get a glass carboy to watch the fermentation..

[MmmBeer]

I always do an extra gallon, here's why:
1) lose about 1/2 gallon in boil
2) when racking, I try to leave at least a 1 -1 1/2 inch of beer/trub on the bottom. Not sucking the bottom filth may yield less beer, but it will clear easier in secondary and I don't like thick cakes on the bottoms of my bottles.

[paul84043]

Starting your boil with 6, and losing a half a gallon in the boil is the same as starting with 4 (or so) and topping up to 5+ after you pour into the primary.

I don't worry too much about picking up gunk off the bottom during either transfer. My beer is clear enough that we never even bother pouring carefully. I worried about it for my first 2 batches, but when I saw how little we were actually getting, I completely gave up on sediment as an issue.