I’ve been primarily using the NB AG kits for my all grain batches and was wondering if there is any concern about having a large amount (approx 1 gallon) of left over wort in the kettle after transferring it to my primary? I’ve seen a lot of threads on here about people trying to get their post boil volume close to the batch size they want (5.5/5,etc.). Is there anything wrong with just dumping the excess (other than lost beer of course), or should I really be trying to nail the exact volume down? I’ve been getting pretty close/hitting the estimated OG’s. Any opinions?
I don’t see anything wrong with that if you’re hitting your desired numbers. I’m guessing you’re efficiency is higher than the kit expects which makes up for the extra volume of wort that you leave behind. It is a bigger deal for commercial brewers where brew house efficiency starts making a big difference due to the scale involved but as a home brewer I don’t sweat trying to optimize everything to ultimately only save a pound of grain. I usually end up leaving behind about 3/4 gallon as working to separate all the break and hop material from the wort just isn’t worth the effort to me.
Only caveat is that due to the extra volume your IBU’s are going to be a bit lower than what the kit intended as you are diluting the wort a bit. I doubt it is off much though and may be below what is perceptible to normal beer drinkers (eg - me).
Thanks! Ya I’ve been getting pretty high efficiency numbers (low 80s) so I haven’t been too worried.
