Batch Size in Recipe Builder

Craigerrr

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I am wondering what the batch size (fermenter volume) refers to in the recipe builder. Is this the amount you expect to package, or is this the total volume that goes into the fermenter?
 
I'm sure there's a reason that someone might want to do it differently but I use a batch size of how much I intend to put into the fermenter. There's a way to choose Kettle or Fermenter as the target for figuring efficiency but I've always chosen Fermenter given that I transfer everything from the kettle to the fermenter anyway.
I use a default batch size of 11 gallons and try to get about that much into the fermenter and leave a half gallon to gallon of trub when I package. I fill 2 kegs and almost always have enough extra to fill up a 1.5 liter bottle for quick-carbing and sampling.
 
Sorry if my question is ambiguous.
At the bottom of the fermenter is approximately a 1/2 gallon of yeast cake. In the recipe builder is this yeast cake part of the fermenter volume. Meaning, if I get 6 gallons in the fermenter, and expect to package 5.5 gallons, do enter my batch as 6, or 5.5?
TIA

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Batch size is usually expressed as what goes into the fermenter.
Aside from trub and hop loss, packaged amount can be affected by a lot of things like spillage. We've all brewed 5 gallon batches that turned into 3 gallon batches because of an open ball valve or spigot. :D
Batch size is what's going to determine your efficiency. If you got x amount at y gravity at the end of boil, that yields z efficiency. That number is important to track as it tells you how to apportion ingredients to achieve a certain OG from batch to batch. If you lose a half gallon from kettle trub (break material and hops) your overall efficiency is lowered but your OG is the same.
You'll settle on a way that makes sense for you and you'll get your profile set up so you can predict very consistently how much water and grain to start with in order to get the amount and OG you want in the fermenter as well as the amount and FG you want in the keg or bottles.
 
so this is how to chose, if you pour everything from your boil kettle into your fermenter, you chose fermenter, if you leave trub and hops in your brew pot you choose kettle
 
Thanks for the responses
 
If you're interested in sizing to the amount you want to package (say to fill a keg) then it's really just experience brewing the batch and working out what's left in the fermenter. My imperial stout has a huge loss, but the kettle sours are close to nothing. I add more to the batch size (kettle permitting) for bigger beers and dry hopping, then adjust for the next batch based on how much I under or overshot.
 
Oh! that's good to know. I will start keeping track of the volume lost to trub/yeast cake per recipe. I have noticed differences from one recipe to another, but had thought that it was due to inconsistencies in my process.
Thanks for posting!
 
Also really hoppy beers are going to reduce volume from the absorbtion.
 
Oh! that's good to know. I will start keeping track of the volume lost to trub/yeast cake per recipe.
Just make extra. :) If you have the capacity in your tun and boil pot to make an extra half gallon, the difference in ingredients is negligible. Most 6.5 gallon fermenters will handle 5.5 gallons pretty well, depending on recipe, yeast, temp, etc and you don't have to get greedy about getting every last drop so that the beer you transfer is clearer and cleaner going into the bottle or keg.
 
Also really hoppy beers are going to reduce volume from the absorbtion.
Hops absorption, BF recipe system accounts for that, but good to be mindful of that, thanks
 
Just make extra. :) If you have the capacity in your tun and boil pot to make an extra half gallon, the difference in ingredients is negligible. Most 6.5 gallon fermenters will handle 5.5 gallons pretty well, depending on recipe, yeast, temp, etc and you don't have to get greedy about getting every last drop so that the beer you transfer is clearer and cleaner going into the bottle or keg.
Thanks, my new fermenter appears to be 7 gallons, will have to measure it and see if I can squeak a little more out of a batch, thanks!
 
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so this is how to chose, if you pour everything from your boil kettle into your fermenter, you chose fermenter, if you leave trub and hops in your brew pot you choose kettle

@Ozarks Mountain Brew , interesting. I have always used fermenter, as I track the losses in the transfer to that too. Perhaps my assumption is incorrect?
Can you expand a little on this? I am very curious now! FYI, I have done full dumps, and not, both with fermenter as the batch.
 
it's all how you base your recipe amounts on, in my case I chose kettle and I end up with 12 gallons in the kettle and i leave all the hops and trub in the kettle and I then add 11 to the fermenter and then 10 in the kegs, those are loses I know will happen based on countless brews, if you boil down to your fermenter volume then pour everything into it you choose fermenter
 
I see your point with the countless brews thing. I been including the transfer to fermenter so that I could say my brewhouse efficiency was from grain to fermenter, including all losses. Not to say that's correct, just how I learned to understand and track my efficiency.

So, would your "Ending Kettle" efficiency now become your "brewhouse efficiency"?

Or would there be another measurement / reading that drops it further? Perhap's I'll experiment some. Curiosity is getting me going!
 
Looks like the same entries create the same values - you still get a brewhouse efficiency, but you just utilize your ending kettle I would imagine for setting things up and monitoring your values? Similar to what I have done with my brewhouse efficiency?
 
efficiencies should be the same either way, and neither way is wrong, it's just a matter of preference in how you brew
 

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