is it too late to add water??

**Polboy** · 10-12-2011, 06:02 PM

Brew my 3rd AG last night, i guess i tighten my grinder too much cuz i got stuck mash and couldn't drain all the way but after adding some of my sparge water it went through but after 60min boil i got less than 9 gal instead of expected 10+. Im still getting to know my equipment so maybe that was volume i should get but from 23lbs of grain 7gal of mash and 7.5gal of sparge i got only <9 seems off to me. Anyway i didnt add more water at the end (it was 1.30am and i had only tap water) and just pitched my yeast thinking i will get less but stronger beer but this morning i kind of regretted, i was making amber ale but from 1.061 OG and SRM at 19 im little too high for amber ales,
My question is: can i add more water 20h after pitching yeast?, (it is already bubbling a lot, i pitched from the cake) or i should just let it ferment as it is?

joeybeer · 10-12-2011, 06:19 PM

I'm interested to know the answer to this too.
I've been thinking about brewing bigger beers and diluting to sessionable strength.

FromZwolle · 10-12-2011, 06:24 PM

as long as it's clean water, go for it.

njnear76 · 10-12-2011, 06:44 PM

I would boil it first. I'm not sure if you want to add oxygen at this point.

**Yooper** · 10-12-2011, 06:48 PM

Yes, you can. BUT........what was the OG supposed to be? I'd rather have the correct OG rather than a certain volume, and the hops and malt are balanced for the OG you got with the recipe. If your OG is too high, than I'd add water to dilute it to the correct OG. Otherwise, I wouldn't mess with it.

joeybeer · 10-12-2011, 06:49 PM

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**Brewchitect** · 10-12-2011, 06:55 PM

personally I wouldn't. You could introduce something and get infected. I would just adjust your water quantity for next time. If you are going to do it, I'd boil the water first then let it cool to the exact same temp as the fermenting beer so as not to shock the yeast. Maybe it would be wise to wait until bottling time to add the water? Just let fermentation do its thing first.

**Polboy** · 10-12-2011, 07:00 PM

I was aiming for around 1.054 got 1.061 so 7 points more, i have one bucket with 4.5gal and another with around 4.2 and i was actually trying to make 10gal batch, it just come short. I boiled 1gal water this morning so it should be cool when i get home i guess i will add 0.6 and 0.45 gal respectively
Thanks guys

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yooper

Yes, you can. BUT........what was the OG supposed to be? I'd rather have the correct OG rather than a certain volume, and the hops and malt are balanced for the OG you got with the recipe. If your OG is too high, than I'd add water to dilute it to the correct OG. Otherwise, I wouldn't mess with it.

TheHomebrewConnection · 10-12-2011, 07:02 PM

I would sterilize your brew pot, boil your water, cool it to the matching temp of your beer and add it during your transfer to secondary. We do it all the time and never have negative results, just slightly weaker beer. You would also need to do a hydrometer adjustment to calculate your true FG.

**Yooper** · 10-12-2011, 07:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cciszew

I was aiming for around 1.054 got 1.061 so 7 points more, i have one bucket with 4.5gal and another with around 4.2 and i was actually trying to make 10gal batch, it just come short. I boiled 1gal water this morning so it should be cool when i get home i guess i will add 0.6 and 0.45 gal respectively
Thanks guys

That will give you an OG of 1.055 so it sounds fine!