5 gal in Primary, only bottled 3.5 gal

[wildeagles87]

So I brewed a batch of AHS Pumpkin Ale. I used about 8 pounds of pumpkin that went in the boil and I didn't strain it out and just poured it into the fermenter and topped off for 5 gallons. I think i should have strained the pumpkin out because there was about 5 inches of trub at the bottom of my primary. I racked it into secondary and couldn't believe how much I lost. I just bottled today and used 2 cups of water with 1/2 cup of priming sugar. I think i will be okay without any exploding bottles. Any suggestions for next time. When I am boiling what are some steps to take to remove excess sediment. I have only brewed a few batches. I have just been pouring the cool wort into the fermenter without any separation or straining. Any help is appreciated

 

[annasdadhockey]

Normally that would be fine to do, but with 8 lbs of pumpkin...like you said that takes up a lot of room. Theres a good chance your gravity is higher than it should be due to less top off water. Perhas you could boil, then cool some more water to bring your level a bit higher, and get you back to your expected gravity.

 

[phatuna]

One solution is to add a pound or 2 of DME and intead of going to the primary with 5 gallons, top up to 6 gallons into primary to account for the loss due to excess trub. The extra DME will keep your gravity consistent with the expected