pale ale just bottled! what happened to my 5 gals?

[RobDrechsler]

Ok,
just bottled my pale ale.. by my calculations I got 510 ounces in the bottle.. maybe 45 ounces left in the secondary ...now I started the first fermenter with 5 gals to the mark, 640 ounces.. that leaves me about 85 ounces short.. given the oh say 2 oz's of hops and the hungry yeast
what's the avg attrition rate for a batch of beer?

[chris mewhinney]

I've honestly not paid that much attention to the final amount. But generally, it sounds like you used both a primary and a secondary. I would expect that racking the beer off the trub and yeast in the primary would result in "losing" about 1.5 to 2 quarts. It sounds like you did a secondary with dry hops. I would expect to "lose" another 1 to 1.5 quarts racking off the secondary. At bottling I would expect minimal loss, just a few ounces all over the kitchen floor. Obviously this is all a rough estimate and subject to the care (or lack thereof...) on the part of the brewer, but my estimate is 2.5 to 3.5 quarts.

This is why many brewers brew a 5.5 gallon batch, myself included.

[RobDrechsler]

...At bottling I would expect minimal loss, just a few ounces all over the kitchen floor. ...

.

actually, I place my bottles in a 25 gal cooler when filling the bottles, just take the cooler outside and rinse.. keeps the wife happy..