Juice NEIPA Fermenter Volume

[Mike COusineau]

So I have brewed a little bit this past year (30 or so batches) and I made my first Juicy NEIPA about 6 weeks ago. Turned out perfect but had an issue with volume amount. Below you will find my recipe and boil / fermenter amounts and just wondering where I need to adjust to make a full 5 gallons of beer transferred into the keg.

9# Pilsner 2 Row
1.5# Barley, Flaked
1.5# Oats, Flaked
1# Wheat, Flaked
1# Rice Hulls
.5# Cane Sugar @ 15 min

Mash @ 150 for 60 min

Pre-Boil water volume was 6.75

Boil for 75 minutes (pretty rough boil **ROOKIE MISTAKE**)

Whirpool at 175 the following:
1oz Citra
1oz Mosaic
1oz El Dorado
1oz Tettnanger

Cool wort to 65 and transfer to fermenter.

Volume was just above 5 gallons

Dry hopped at 3 days with the following:
1oz Citra
1oz Mosaic
1oz El Dorado
1oz Denali

At 14 days I ended up transferring to the secondary (usually never do that) but it was what I thought was necessary to get all the gunk out and make sure the beer was not filled with crap when i kegged it.

So after I transferred to secondary I had a volume of about 4.25 gallons and once i kegged it I had less than 3.75.

I about sh&% myself, but it was still amazing beer.

So what should i do next time to hit the full 5 gallon batch in the keg.

 

[Jag75]

I'd make a 5.5 gallon batch . With all the hops and stuff you may get a tad over 5 . Also 75 min boil is overboard . 60 min boil is fine , unless for some reason the Pilsner needs longer boil schedule. Boil doesnt need to be aggressive either . A nice rolling boil is adequate.

 

[Dgallo]

I always target a 6 gallon volume in my fermenter with NEIPAs. There will be a lot of hop material and I'd rather leave it out of the keg. Also heres a good video to help describe your boil. I recommend somewhere between level 2 and level 3 for consistent boil off rates

 

[Mike COusineau]

I always target a 6 gallon volume in my fermenter with NEIPAs. There will be a lot of hop material and I'd rather leave it out of the keg. Also heres a good video to help describe your boil. I recommend somewhere between level 2 and level 3 for consistent boil off rates

Thanks, I was def between level 4 and 5.

Great video for sure and like the 6 gallon mark for fermenter

 

[DVCNick]

Wow that is a lot of loss.
For my first NEIPA (Dgallo's recipe) I ended up with just over six gallons in the fermenter, and used a pressurizable fermenter. Cold crashed in the primary and all the hops pretty much compacted on the bottom. I actually ended up with a good bit more than 5 gallons of clean beer in the primary and had to toss some of what would have been a fine beer. For my next batch this is on my list of things to adjust.

If everything you read about NEIPA and O2 exposure is accurate, I'd invest in a pressurizable fermenter if I was going to be brewing a lot of this style... The ability to properly cold crash and closed-pressure transfer with this style and this amount of dry hops is just so much easier and better.

 

[Dgallo]

Wow that is a lot of loss.
For my first NEIPA (Dgallo's recipe) I ended up with just over six gallons in the fermenter, and used a pressurizable fermenter. Cold crashed in the primary and all the hops pretty much compacted on the bottom. I actually ended up with a good bit more than 5 gallons of clean beer in the primary and had to toss some of what would have been a fine beer. For my next batch this is on my list of things to adjust.

If everything you read about NEIPA and O2 exposure is accurate, I'd invest in a pressurizable fermenter if I was going to be brewing a lot of this style... The ability to properly cold crash and closed-pressure transfer with this style and this amount of dry hops is just so much easier and better.

I purposly leave .25 gallons behind in the fermenter

 

[DVCNick]

Oh ok... I probably had at least that much left, but... you do that just to make sure absolutely as much hop debris as possible is left behind?

 

[Genuine]

My non NEIPA beers I shoot for a post boil kettle volume of 6 gallons to account for loss, trub, etc and I generally end up with a full 5 gallons into the keg. For NEIPA's I'm shooting for 6.5 Gallons so that It gives me 1.5 gallons of loss to hop matter...and still get 5 gallons into the keg. For how much it costs to make a NEIPA, I want as much volume as possible.

 

[Dgallo]

Oh ok... I probably had at least that much left, but... you do that just to make sure absolutely as much hop debris as possible is left behind?

Exactly, yeast and 6-10oz of dryhops in the fermonster, I have atlessr .5 to .75 gallons of straight Trub. The additional amount is to insure with the floating dip tube they any additional yeast that dropped out in the coldcrash doesn’t making it into the keg to strip anymore oils. If you have a conical you can probably keep it closer to 5.5-5.75 into the fermenter.

 

[Mike COusineau]

So I wanted to test this out so I pre boiled 7.25 gallons and after cooling off the wort and dumping it into a bucket, I had 5.8 gallons. So I'm hoping I can get a solid 5 gallons once I cold crash.

Thanks everyone

 

[Mike COusineau]

My non NEIPA beers I shoot for a post boil kettle volume of 6 gallons to account for loss, trub, etc and I generally end up with a full 5 gallons into the keg. For NEIPA's I'm shooting for 6.5 Gallons so that It gives me 1.5 gallons of loss to hop matter...and still get 5 gallons into the keg. For how much it costs to make a NEIPA, I want as much volume as possible.

I guess I'll need a new bucket then to be able to get 6.5. Maybe time to invest in a 7 gallon conical

 

[Genuine]

I guess I'll need a new bucket then to be able to get 6.5. Maybe time to invest in a 7 gallon conical

Have you measured your bucket fermenter? I ferment my NEIPA's in a 6.5 gallon glass car boy till I get the All Rounder so I can do pressure transfers. There's barely any headspace and I have to use a blowoff tube but it works for me.

 

[wepeeler]

Welcome to the wonderful world of neipas and the ridiculous amount of hops (and waste)! I try to shoot for 6-6.5 gallons into the fermenter to account for trub loss. I have a 7 gallon SS Brew Bucket and use a blow off tube, because they usually ferment vigorously, and I don't want to run into any issues. The vigorous boil may have been some of the issue, but your main issue was starting with only 5 gallons into the fermenter and then adding so many dry hops. They soak up a lot of beer and contribute to loss. Of course, when you add more water, you'll have to adjust the recipe to account for more grain and hops for gravity and IBUs. You'll get the hang of what to expect from your process after a few batches.