What happened to my volume?

[BackToBasics]

I've been pondering this for a couple of weeks now and I can't come up with an explanation.

My last brew day was a NEIPA. Recipe came from David Heath's video on NEIPAs - I put it into Brewfather and scaled it to make a 21l batch with the intention of getting 19l in the keg.

Malt bill was 76% pilsner, 8% munich, 7% malted oats, 7% flaked wheat and 1% crystal (5.55kg total grain bill) into 24l of mash water and a small 5l sparge. Only hop addition was 244g of various hops (mosaic, citra etc) as a whirlpool addition/hopstand after a 60 minute boil. This was all done in a klarstein kettle (not sure on model - one of the cheaper non-recirc models) which I'm replacing soon but I've learnt to work around it's short comings.

Everything seemed to go okay but I only ended up with around 17l in the fermenter and I just can't figure out where I've fallen short. Mash water was measured out carefully. The klarstein was pretty much at it's limit during mashing so I know I wasn't short on liquid there. The grain was pretty well drained - I only collected a small amount (maybe a few hundred ml) of wort in the bucket I transferred the grain basket to. The boil was a fairly steady low, rolling boil same as I've done several times before. Don't think I lost too much from the boil anyway as the OG was roughly where I expected it to be from the pre-boil reading.

Completely stumped by this one. Any ideas?

 

[Horners]

That 244g of hops can be pretty thirsty?

 

[Banbeer]

Only time I had a similar thing happen was when I first scaled down for filling a keg and forgot to factor in the loss on my all in one system (Brewster Beacon).

 

[Clint]

My last brew had 160g dry hop which I didn't bag like I usually do and I recon I lost over a litre extra.
Plus if you scale down,as said,you will still get the same boil off and system loses.

 

[BackToBasics]

My last brew had 160g dry hop which I didn't bag like I usually do and I recon I lost over a litre extra.
Plus if you scale down,as said,you will still get the same boil off and system loses.

I used brewfather to scale down - I think it automatically adjusts for boil off and system loss and I used the same figures for both as I've used before?

I'm not sure it adjusts for hop absorption though so that could well be a contributing factor. Being 4l short seems a lot to lose to hops though.

On a positive note, when I pulled the dry hops out on Sunday it smelt fantastic. I'm optimistic that this will be a great beer. I just wish I knew what had gone wrong so I can adjust for it next time.

 

[The Baron]

My system would have a boil off rate of about 4 litres in 60 mins although I only do a gentle roll and a vigorous boil would be more, grain absorption is approx 1ltr per kilo so with your volumes on my system it would be
24+ 5ltrs sparge = 29
minus 4 ltrs boil off +5.5ltr grain absorption = 19.5 ltrs minus 1 ltr to the kettle so I would get a max of 18.5 ltrs but every system is different and my kettle loss at 1 ltr is pretty low compared to some so you are not a million miles away.
Looks to me as the calculator you have used has not fully adjusted boil off and absorption when you have scaled the recipe
Ps this is only my system but may give you a better insight into maybe why

 

[The Baron]

I have just been watching a vid which says a pound of hops can take 4,5 ltrs of loss, which means you used half a pound so a good 2 ltr hit I think thats where the extra is as this will drop down as extra trub(hops) and they will retain the absorption

 

[BackToBasics]

The settings I'm using are 3l/hour boil off, 0.8l per kg for grain absorption and 1l for system loss. I've had brews come in a little short before so it may be that the 4l "loss" is a combination of all the above being slightly off plus the hop absorption, some loss from taking out the grain basket (main reason the Klarstein is on the way out) and probably a few other small losses along the way.

There are no markings on the klarstein so I don't really know what my boil off rate is or my kettle loss. Not sure there's much point figuring out the proper figures now as my Robobrew should be turning up next week. I'll make sure to get some water in that and measure the losses before I do a brew in it though.

 

[The Baron]

There are plenty of system settings for the Robobrew when you get it but you may have to tweak it as there are so many variables as I have said a boil to a vigorous boil gives different boil off rates as does brewing a hoppy beer. Just try the standard settings and see how you go and always allow a little extra sparge water with a hoppier brew