onelegout

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Heya,
I was trying to mash/sparge ending up with 6 gallons of wort to compensate for evaporation in the boil.
I've just run out of sparge water leaving me with 5 gallons of wort. I don't really want to dilute the wort after the boil, so can I just add water as it boils off? Surely only the water will evaporate anyway? and as my SG of the 5-gallons I collected is reasonably on target, it shouldn't matter, right?
Is there any reason why I should worry about adding water to the boil to compensate for evaporation?

thanks,
H

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Whiskey

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Can you heat up another gallon of water?

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rmseven4

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If you add water before or after the boil to get your final 5 gallon amount you will end up with the same beer. If you boil down 6 gallons to 5 or if you boil 5 down to 4 and add 1 gallon you should end up with the same S.G.

Bobby_M

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If the 5 gallons you have preboil is on target for your gravity, it's fine to top it up during the boil.

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headfullahops

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It will effect hop utilization slightly. The larger the boil volume, typically, the better the hop utilization. That may not be a factor for you, though.