Only 18 litres left after the boil...

[annebrodie]

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!

[fishjam45 (Colin)]

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?

[Simon_]

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°.

[irish_goat]

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?

[DEMPSEY]

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.

[annebrodie]

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.

[annebrodie]

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?

[irish_goat]

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.

[annebrodie]

Top tips! Thanks!