Volume losses to hops

[Vossy1]

What figure if any, do people attribute to volume loss due to absorption from the hops

I'm in the process of using DaaB's batch sparge calculator ready for doing my 1st batch sparge brew tomorrow and need some figure to account for losses

[prodigal2]

I'm still getting my head round that at the moment as I think it depends on technique and how much break material you willing to take the chance getting through. Also how many hops and the target OG have a bearing on it as I learnt on my THA brew.
As I currently syphon off my stock pot the above have a big impact.

I know that was no help what so ever, but I thought it was worth mentioning.

[J_P]

I arbitrarily said 5 when doing the maths and I've been spot on with my volumes. Just to quantify that I boil in a 10G H&G boiler.

[Vossy1]

I tended to add the copper dead space to the hops loss and that gave me a figure of 5.5ltrs.
Trouble is I've changed the manifold and this will change the dead space loss.

Only one way to find out then...trial and error..as per norm

[mysterio]

I normally formulate a recipe for 12 US gallons, hoping to get 10 gallons in the FV (enough for 2 cornies exactly). An educated guess, i'd say 120 grams of loose hops absorbs one US gallon.

[mysterio]

That's just the way I like to do it. I like to do all my gravity adjustments before the boil, so for example i'll do my refractometer readings while the wort is heating up, and adjust with cold water to get the reading i want, then mark the level with a pen on the boiler. Then top up with how much i'll lose during the boil, usually about 2 inches. Then i'll strain the wort out hopefully getting at least 10 gallons in the FV. Probably not the most efficient way of doing things but it works for me!

[Wez]

Beautiful, beautiful

[Vossy1]

Have you been at the sauce again Wez

I suspect you may be right DaaB

Thanks for all the tips guys. I will be brewing Broadsword again tomorrow, and if I get up early enough maybe an old time IPA
It's all been adjusted using the excellent DaaB and EB batch sparge calculator

On this first brew I'm going with a 7ltr loss to hops and trub, simply because that's what's worked in the past

I also had a good play with DaaB's IBU calculator and I have adjusted my hops using this. In the original recipe I used the formula for replacement hops with differing alpha acids ie, weight of original x AA of original divided by new hop AA. This gave me a figure of 224g of 4%AA Fuggles for a 46 ltr brew length. Using DaaB's new IBU calculator that gave me a IBU of 53 when the original recipe was 36 IBU.

I liked the resulting brew a lot but tomorrow I'm going to brew the recipe as it should be, and I'll see if I like it