Query: when I start the boil, I start with 27 litres, but by the time it's over I usually only have between 18-20 litres. What am I doing wrong? Thanks!
your preboil volume is 27. Are you left with 18-20 litres in the boiler or are you getting 18-20 litres into your fermentor?
Sounds pretty normal. You boil off a good few litres, lose a few litres in hop soakage, boiler dead space. And even then 27L @ 100° is only ~ 25L @ 20°.
How quickly are you emptying the fermenter. I find if you whirlpool and let the sediment settle a while before transferring to the fermenter you can get an extra litre or two normally?
Normal as I see it. On my grainfather I would have a preboil size of 26 liters to end up with 19 liters in a corney after fermentation.
Quote from: fishjam45 (Colin) on February 05, 2019, 11:36:47 AM
your preboil volume is 27. Are you left with 18-20 litres in the boiler or are you getting 18-20 litres into your fermentor?
I'm getting 18-20 into the fermenter.
Quote from: irish_goat on February 05, 2019, 04:17:06 PM
How quickly are you emptying the fermenter. I find if you whirlpool and let the sediment settle a while before transferring to the fermenter you can get an extra litre or two normally?
I use the chiller coil to bring it down to 20 degrees or so, so that takes a while and most of the sediment seems to have sunk by then?
Quote from: annebrodie on February 09, 2019, 05:05:19 PM
Quote from: irish_goat on February 05, 2019, 04:17:06 PM
How quickly are you emptying the fermenter. I find if you whirlpool and let the sediment settle a while before transferring to the fermenter you can get an extra litre or two normally?
I use the chiller coil to bring it down to 20 degrees or so, so that takes a while and most of the sediment seems to have sunk by then?
I used to transfer to the fermenter as soon as the temp was down to 20 and I took the chiller out. I found that if I took the chiller out and put the lid back on for half an hour I'd get a lot more sediment compacted at the bottom. This would be very quite hoppy beers but it could be worth a try.
Top tips! Thanks!