I just ordered a 10 gal. s.s. brew kettle from nb. my question is. how much water do I start off with so I end with 5 gals. my first full boil is going to a cascade mountain west coast ipa extract kit from nb. I know it’s probably going to be trial & error until I see how much I am going to loose to evaporation. any starting point would be great.
1 to 1.5 gallons of evaporation per hour. Depending on temp/humidity/vigor of boil/pot opening…
Like you said, it’s kind of a trial and error thing. I would start out with 6 gallons. If you end up with only 4.5 or 4.75 gallons of wort then you can either brew as is or top off to get the five gallons of volume. Your OG will be slightly off in either case but not enough to do any harm and you’ll know for next time how much water to start with next time.
With my 10 gal. kettle w/valve & screen, i start with just short of 7 gal. After boiloff/evaporation & loss during transfer, end up with just over 5 gal. in fermenter. Play with your setup & after a couple batches you’ll have it dialed in. Good luck! :cheers:
I like to end up with about 5.5 in the fermenter. You’re going to lose some volume due to trub.
As said above, just get familiar with your system.
so if you end up with 5.5 gals in the carboy is the beer going to taste water down or thin?
My recipes take that into account. Some will specify 5.5 into the fermenter for that reason.
If a recipe calls for 5 gals. final volume, it should account for loss due to trub, IMO.
+1
That’s my plan. Solid 5 gal. in the bottles.
