5 gallon kit only filling to 4.25 gallons

[chris12_50]

I'm pretty new to brewing and just doing kits right now. My problem is, they are 5 gallon kits but I'm only getting 4.25-4.5 gallons out of it. I go until the hydrometer reads the original gravity required by the kit and then I stop. Is this normal? What can I do to get my final batch to end up at 5 gallons? Can I add more ingredients of some sort? Currently I boil 2.5 gallons and after it cools, I add room temp water until I reach the gravity. Should I be doing a different method? FYI they are Brewers Best kits and I've done 6 different ones now, all resulting in 4.5 gallons or less. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[marshac1]

I like to calculate my batches a little bigger to account for loss to leaf hops and boil off. It got easier for me when I went full boil.

 

[doby]

When I do extract kits I top off to 5 gal and usually the gravity is within the kit specs, you will lose some to trub loss and how carefull you rack not getting to much stuff into your bottling bucket and/or secondary.

Typically I lose 1/2 gallon or a little less just like you. There ain't much you can do, if you top off more you weaken the beer taste and abv and not worth it. Now when you do AG you can correct for this witch is what most of us do, go to 5.5 gal batches to get a full 5 gal finished beer, thats why you see reciepes that are 5.5 gal.

Edit,,,,,,,,,, Yes you could add some dme or lme to get extra fementables in there but you would have to calculate how much, I usually don't stray to much from the kit but hey you can that part of the fun, experiment!

 

[glockspeed31]

You could add an extra 1# of Dry malt into your boil with the other extract. Then add your top off water like normal, but go to 5 or even 5 1/4gal. Then you will get closer to your 5 gal batch size. The 1# of extract will bump your gravity about 4-5 points.

 

[hops2it]

Yep a little DME would be just the ticket. Unless you're really wanting the exact profile of the kit, I might recommend straying from them here and there anyway. I kinda view kits more as a jumping off point. A base which can often be made better.

Also, I'd probably add the DME at the end of the boil. For hops utilization and it'll keep your color more true to the kit style. Wouldn't hurt to input the recipe into Beersmith or similar and see what increasing the batch size/fermentables does to your IBU's and then if desired, you can adjust the hops ante to match the original plan.

 

[dmashl]

Austin homebrew has kits that are 5.25 gallon batches that finish at 5 gallons bottling volume. basically they make the wort more concentrated. I started with brewers best kits, which are ok. but graduated to austin hombrew partial mash kits(need a 5 gallon pot), boiling 4 gallons of wort(losing .75 gallon to boil off). bought beersmith 2 and make my own recipes now.

 

[tacks]

Are you taking your OG at 70°F or 78℉ ( depending on what your hydrometer is calibrated for) or is your temperature elevated? If your temp is way high, you'll be getting a lower reading on your hydrometer, which could account for a lower perceived OG. If that's not the issue, toss in some dme like others have said, or customize the recipe to your liking by adding some brown sugar, corn sugar or rice solids ( in recipe appropriate amounts of course). Don't short yourself 7 or 8 beers just because your OG will be a few points low!

 

[kh54s10]

I would say to top off to the 5 gallons and not to worry about a couple of gravity points. I'm sure there is some error in the recipe and some error in your measurements also. I have missed gravity by quite a bit at times and guess what... I made great beer!!

 

[chris12_50]

Thanks for the help everyone. I think for now I'll add some extra DME like suggested and see where that gets me. I do plan on trying other kits to see how they are. I've only been doing Brewers Best since that is what my local store sells. I haven't really been too impressed with it. Just wanted to get the process down for now, but after a few more batches I plan on trying my own recipes and getting away from these kits.

 

[doby]

I wasn't impressed with brewers best either as compared to midwest, austine home brew, morebeer. You may want to try some of these

 

[trippin]

I did a bb black lager kit , got 5 gal, it was ok.
After bottle conditioning 5-6 weeks there Great!!