original volume vs og

[brewwitch]

Most recipes I have seen specifiy an OG.
They also say to fill carboy to the 5 gallon mark.

However, I have found that our worts tend to achieve the OG before the
5 gallon mark is reached.

Now if just inprimary this probably isn;t a big deal but when I rack to secondary and only have about 4 gallons of wort I wind up with too much head space.

So, should I pretty much ignore the OG in the recipe book and work soley on the OG I get with a 5 gallon wort?

thanks

[markaberrant]

You need to adjust recipes for your setup and equipment. I have never followed a recipe verbatim, you always need to modify it to suit your needs.

[Mad Scientist]

I think what he is saying is that a recipe that he is using says he should get 1.050 O.G., with 5 gallons of worts collected. but he is getting say 4.5 gallons of 1.050 O.G. wort, am I getting that right?

[brewwitch]

Yes you are, Mad Scientist/hop monger!

(oh and I'm a she LMAO)

[Mad Scientist]

(oh and I'm a she LMAO)

My bad....:eek:

Using a recipe from the suggested O.G. in a kit or a book recipe is asking to be disappointed. In many cases, those O.G. as hard to get due to effieiency issues.

Just use the O.G. that you get. Also make sure you adjust you hydrometer reading for temperature.

[darylM]

My bad....:eek:

Using a recipe from the suggested O.G. in a kit or a book recipe is asking to be disappointed. In many cases, those O.G. as hard to get due to effieiency issues.

Just use the O.G. that you get. Also make sure you adjust you hydrometer reading for temperature.

You can adjust the recipe depending on your equipment. Some may be lost to boiling or not getting all of the wort into the fermentor. If you have places in the process that wort gets left behind, that can account for the shortfall. My last batch I lost a gallon from the fermentor to the bottling bucket because of the fruit I put in. The book "Designing Great Beers" devotes a chapter on what you can do to adjust during brewing day.

[brewwitch]

hey Mad Scientist

i wasn't in the least bit offended or put off! So there was no "bad".
It's kind of flattering really! LMAO

[Mill Rat]

It's far more important to make good beer than to get exactly 5 gallons per batch. I'd rather come up a little short of 5 gallons than have wort that won't fit in the fermenter or beer that won't fit into the keg. As Mark said, you'll get used to what you need to adjust to account for your equipment. About the time you get that figured out, you'll upgrade you equipment and have to readjust. For someone new to the hobby, concentrate on the process and on sanitation, and the rest will fall into place.

When you make a significant transition in methods or equipment, I recommend that trying "wet run" with the new toys. Go through the brewing process using only plain water. That way you can figure out what works and what won't, and the worst that can happen is you take a unintended cold shower. Hot wort can be quite painful, plus you then face the tragedy of the loss of all that potential beer.