After Fermentation beer level is lower - Brewium.com Community Forum

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recks1 Dedicated Member	# Posted: 29 Feb 2008 07:57:05 We just finished our 10 day fermentation (yeah, we're still only doing a single fermentation), and when we went to syphon the beer into the bottling bucket, there was only just over 4 gal total in the fermenting bucket, where when after our cooking cycle, we topped it off to 5 gals. With this, we were only able to bottle about 19 22oz bottles, instead of our usual 23-24. The only thing that I can think of is that we didn't top it off to completely 5 gallons, but how can you not make sure of that? We tasted the beer that didn't fill the last bottle, and it tastes fine, I just can't figure out what could have happened. What could cause the beer level to drop during fermentation?
scwenger	# Posted: 3 Mar 2008 21:36:43 Hi Recks, Assuming you are not doing something like open air fermentation which would lead to evaporation, the missing beer is locked up in the trub (yeast cake) at the bottom of the fermenter. The yeast absorbs a little bit of the liquid during the fermentation process but the majority of what is missing just part of that sludge at the bottom. Next time try topping it off at 5.5 or 6 gallons. Without getting into the math, the alcohol by volume will end up a percentage point or lower but you will achieve the desired full 5 gallon finish quantity. I hope this helps. It is great to hear from you. Steve
scwenger	# Posted: 3 Mar 2008 22:04:05 Recks, I should have gotten out the calculator before posting my last reply. Twenty-four 22 ounce bottles is just around 4 gallons total (24 x 22oz / 128 oz per gallon) so I think you might want to check your measuring technique. If you have not done so already, try filling up the fermenter between batches with water one gallon at a time and mark the exterior with a sharpie at 5 and then 6 gallons. I used an empty gallon water jug for mine. The mark helps give you a visual indicator where you are at when you top off the wort before fermentation. Regards, Steve
recks1 Dedicated Member	# Posted: 4 Mar 2008 08:55:21 Thanks Steve, I'll double check some of those things. We were also going to test our fermenting bucket to make sure it seals correctly. Do you know if humidity (or lack-thereof) would affect this either? I remember that during fermentation it was especially dry in our area, so we were thinking maybe over the period of 10 days or so, some moisture was pulled out from the air lock? I know it sounds kinda weird, but we were getting creative with our thoughts. Oh, and the issue was that the fermenting bucket only had a little over 4 gallons, this was before we syphoned it in the bottling bucket, so including the sludge and all, it was only above 4 gallons, which really makes me want to think that moisture escaped in some way. We only ended up with 19 bottles after we syphoned into the bottling bucket. We're going to start another batch soon after we re-test our equipment, so we'll really make sure of our water levels before going on, and see what happens this time.
paintchips Member	# Posted: 28 Mar 2008 18:47:19 Was your airlock dry? If dry air caused some evaporation, it would have to pull the water out through the airlock. When it was time to bottle my last batch of wine I noticed the air-lock was dry. I had a dehumidifier running in the area of where the carboy was sitting. While I didn't notice any decline in volume, I suppose if the airlock could evaporate 100%, some of the beer/wine could as well. Luckily, I haven't noticed any sign of contamination. -Clif