First AG - Massive Losses

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adajam4

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Hi all,

I have just got my first AG into the Primary and... I have about 10 litres.

Boil SG
OG all on point - but yea massive losses.

I started with 23 litres total and have just realised that should have been my total boil size - so I know I have lost some there.

On the boil I have an electric Brupaks boiler which I left the lid off of - I think I lost A LOT here... Should this be left at simmer, because it still delivered a consistent rolling boil.

We have a homebrew shop in town, I may head in and get another Primary and put a second batch on Monday - I mean, that's what bank holidays are for right? But what should my starting litreage be for a 20L final batch?

Secondly for this batch, should I pitch a half pack of Safale-05 - or just go whole hog? Is there anyway to get a bigger batch or is that just asking for problems?
 
Pitch the full pack of yeast and put it down as experience. It can take a while to get your system dialled in properly, but I find it easier to work backwards.

Start with your desired into fermenter volume, say 20L
Add losses to trub and hops, for me ~3L
Add 1L due to shrinkage during cooling
Add losses from the boil, for me ~15%/hour

Total equals 20+3+1+4=28L

That then gives your pre-boil volume, so sparge until you collect that amount in your boiler then boil.
 
I biab and start mashing in about 20-22 litres, then sparge with about 12 and after squeezing aim to end up with 28-30litres pre-boil to account for about 5 litres of boil off and 2.5 litres of dead space in my boiler.

What's the gravity of your wort? If you started with enough grain for a 20litre batch (5kg+?) You may have just made a concentrated wort and can use a dilution calculator to have a bigger batch.

Good luck.
 
So my SG was 1.036 and OG is now 1.044 - which is slightly better than brewarget says it should be (1.042) - so i don't think I can dilute that down now can I...
 
Probably best not to dilute.

As Strange Steve suggests put it down to experience. You can spend the time it's in the primary to decide on your next brew and read up on repitching/pitching on the trub.
 
Pitch the whole pack, you can always save the trub when you finished which will give you even more Safale to use on your next brew.

You will have a stronger brew so you could dillute with some boiled and cooled or some bottled water.

Don't worry, mistakes happen but your brew will be fine.
 
It took me two or three brews to work out volumes for my set up. I know that I need 30 litres in the boiler before the boil to end up with 23 litres in the FV. You can dilute as much as you want within reason, it just makes it weaker.
 
Does this mean my efficiency must have been terrible to only get these gravities?
 
Thank you all for the tips. I went to the HB shop and bought another primary and some more grain and hops for the same recipe, looking forward to getting on the horse again. Should be interesting to see the difference in the two beers.

What did you do differently to get your efficiency up?
 
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