So we brewed our first one gallon batch last weekend, following the video tutorials and instructions exactly. Somehow we got less than a gallon when transferring to the glass jug, maybe an 1 1/2" below the “gallon” text - is this normal? Also, our siphon doesn’t work for shit, so we’re going to have to get a new one (probably from somewhere else) before we bottle, it wont even siphon regular water when testing it after struggling for half an hour with the actual beer. It will not create proper suction and made a giant mess.
Also, we can’t see any more bubbles up at the top. I saw bubbles for the first 3-4 days, but haven’t seen any at all after that point. it’s been 5 days total since we brewed and it’s been kept in a dark closet. Since it yielded less than a gallon, would it make sense that it needs less time before bottling? how do we know if it’s done if no more bubbles pop up before the first week?