Advertise Here
Main · BrewSpace · Recipes · Wiki · Groups · Clubs · Gallery · Reviews · Video · Blogs · Store

Memorial Day False Bottom Free ShippingSpecial Buy! Brix Refractometer on sale, $31.99!!!Attention Canadians! Discount code!
Go Back   Home Brew Forums > Home Brewing Beer > Beginners Beer Brewing Forum



Reply
 
LinkBack Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 11-05-2008, 03:14 PM   #1
Junior Member
Recipes 
 
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 23
Default should i add more water?

did a quick search through some threads and couldnt find an answer to this so here goes...

i finished brewing a 5ga. partial mash late monday night. I used about 2 ga. of water for the mash. I then used just over 1 ga. of water to sparge the grains, bringing my boil to just over 3 ga.

after all the cooking and cooling i added the wort to 2 ga. of water in my primary fermentor. when all was at the right temp i pitched my yeast...without really thinking too much about it and called it a night.

i woke up tuesday morning and took a look at my primary (6.5ga glass carboy) and realized that i must have lost more water than i thought when boiling because it seems as though i am about .5 ga to 1ga. short.

so after way too much info, here is my question...its now wed. morning. i have no signs of vigerous fermentation yet (doesnt worry me yet) but i was wondering if i should add more water to bring the volume to 5 ga? should i just let it ride and not open up my primary? i plan on transfering it to a secondary fermentor once initial fermentation is complete, should i add more water at that time? should i do nothing? am i freaking out for no reason?

thanks,


shadygrove96 is offline Reply With Quote
Old 11-05-2008, 03:17 PM   #2
Drink your beer!
 
Yooper's Avatar
Recipes 
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Upper Michigan
Posts: 41,521
Default

What's the OG? If your beer has too high of an OG, then I'd recommend adding water to get to your desired OG for the recipe.

I wouldn't want to guess at .5 to 1 gallon of an addition. You may be way off on your estimate, and add to much water and water down your beer. The only way I'd add any water is if I missed my OG and the beer would be out of balance.
__________________
Broken Leg Brewery
Giving beer a leg to stand on since 2006
Yooper is offline Reply With Quote
Old 11-05-2008, 03:17 PM   #3
AFK ATM
 
TheJadedDog's Avatar
Recipes 
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: People's Republic of Cambridge
Posts: 3,323
Default

Did you take a hydrometer reading? The only real affect of have a lower total volume is that your starting gravity will be higher, this may lead to a higher ABV in the end. Otherwise the only downside is less beer to drink when it's done. Personally, I'd just leave well enough alone at this point.
__________________
And now we go AG!

On Tap: Nadda
Primary: Nadda
Planning: Extra Special Bitter
TheJadedDog is offline Reply With Quote
Old 11-05-2008, 03:18 PM   #4
Member
Recipes 
 
Join Date: Oct 2008
Posts: 82
Default

You can leave it at 4.5 gallons if you want. That's fine. You could add the extra half gallon if you want but it's really not necessary in my (limited) experience and may not be worth the risk...Less to bottle that way, to


luckylindy345 is offline Reply With Quote
Reply
Thread Tools
Display Modes


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
IPA water recipe - adjusting high bicarbonate water conpewter Brew Science 19 10-01-2010 05:29 PM
Tankless Water Heater for Sparge water? passedpawn Equipment/Sanitation 38 06-07-2010 03:32 PM
Bottled Water Recommendations For IPA? Water Here Sucks coryforsenate Recipes/Ingredients 4 08-03-2009 07:44 PM
Mash water/sparge water ratio Philsc Beginners Beer Brewing Forum 4 06-08-2009 11:15 PM
building brewing water from reverse osmosis (RO) water Kaiser Recipes/Ingredients 6 01-12-2008 01:47 AM





Contact Us - Top - Privacy - All times are GMT. The time now is 10:47 PM.
Copyright © Group Builder, Inc - All Rights Reserved
Craft Beer & Brewery Forum