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Brewno · 10-02-2006, 06:51 PM

After carefully racking to secondary and then again carefully racking to my bottling bucket I ended up with what seemed like no sediment at all in my bottles.
The only problem, which isn't actually a problem, is that I lost about 1/2 gal of beer ending up with 4.5 gals. Not a big deal and worth the clean brew.

I thought about adding more water to my kettle to bring it to 5 gals in the end next time. Even J. Palmer says to add an extra gallon to make up for lost beer due to evaporation and trub etc.
But I was wondering about that. In any recipe whether it be a cake or mixing chemicals you usually have to adjust across the board.

Can I just up the water in my kettle?

Tommy

**kornkob** · 10-02-2006, 07:04 PM

Ifyou jsut adjust the water then you get a lower gravity beer. If you're trying to replicate a specific taste then you need to adjust the whole recipie.

That being said addign an extra gallon of water to most beers isn't going to hurt it-- you'll still make good beer.

That being said, I make 5 gallon batches and don't worry about the beer I 'lost'. If you think about it you're still 'losing' it--- you've just made a bigger batch.

Blender · 10-02-2006, 07:04 PM

I figure my brews for 5.5 in the primary fermentor so I easily end with 5 gallons for bottling. You will have to adjust your recipes for the increased amount. If you just add water then you gravity will be lower which may not be a bad thing.

dougjones31 · 10-02-2006, 07:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blender

I figure my brews for 5.5 in the primary fermentor so I easily end with 5 gallons for bottling. You will have to adjust your recipes for the increased amount. If you just add water then you gravity will be lower which may not be a bad thing.

Ditto! 5.5 gallons in the primary.

homebrewer_99 · 10-02-2006, 07:52 PM

ditto his ditto...5.25-5.5 in the primary...

Brewsmith · 10-02-2006, 08:41 PM

Triple ditto. Scale that puppy to 5.5 gal.

Brewno · 10-03-2006, 03:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blender

I figure my brews for 5.5 in the primary fermentor so I easily end with 5 gallons for bottling. You will have to adjust your recipes for the increased amount. If you just add water then you gravity will be lower which may not be a bad thing.

That was my point in my original post. Palmer says to just add extra water to the kettle. I thought, like any other recipe, you would have to adjust across the board and readjust the whole recipe.
It seems that's what you're saying also.
So adding extra water to the fermenter or adding it to the kettle amounts to the same thing. You would have to adjust "up" all your other ingredients.

Tommy

homebrewer_99 · 10-03-2006, 04:55 AM

I don't adjust anything except the water...

Brewno · 10-03-2006, 11:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by homebrewer_99

I don't adjust anything except the water...

you see.....that's the kind of easy stuff I like!!!!!

Tommy

rcd · 10-03-2006, 12:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brewno

That was my point in my original post. Palmer says to just add extra water to the kettle. I thought, like any other recipe, you would have to adjust across the board and readjust the whole recipe.
It seems that's what you're saying also.
So adding extra water to the fermenter or adding it to the kettle amounts to the same thing. You would have to adjust "up" all your other ingredients.

Tommy

yeah but remember (if I understand correctly), if you add more water, relatively, to your kettle, your hop utilization will go up, which will be a relative factor.