Adding water late. Is it okay?

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jjward101

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So I just transferred a batch to secondary, and decided to weigh the bucket once I was done. Since we know water weighs about 8 lbs per gallon, and I was only at 32 lbs, I am wondering....can I add a gallon of distilled water at this point to,get me to 5 gallons? I'd like to end up with 2 full cases at bottling time.

this batch started at 1.06 and is currently at 1.02. Its a blonde ale with the following ingredients:

3.3 lbs lme (late boil addition for lighter color)
4 lbs pilsen dme ( split 2/2 at beginning and last 15 minuges of boil)
2 lbs dry rice syrup extract added at last 15 min. Of boil
2 oz of liberty hops...1 oz at start of boil, 1/2 oz at final 15 mins, ans 1/2 oz at the end of the boil.

I primary'd for 8 days, my gravity stayed consitent for the last 3 days prior to tranferring to 2ndary. I dont know how I ended up at 4 gallons....i know I started at 5, and I have no leaks or anything. I know beer is resilient and hard to ruin ( thanks to revvy ), but I figured I would try the resources here....im sure you guys have seen it all....twice. Lastly, I promise, I did try to search for this before starting the thread. Just sayin'

Thanks for any help.
 
Generally not a good idea, the beer will end up a little "watery"

I would say go with a few less, better beer rather than trying to get a few more and losing quality.

Adding water before fermentation is fine, I bring all my beers up to 5.5 gal before pitching
 
Taste the beer. If you feel that it would be better tasting with watering it down, go ahead. Grab a glass and add 20% water (or however much you plan on adding). If the beer tastes better watered down, then do it. Boil it first, and don't splash it while adding.

But keep in mind that most people would rather have 1.75 cases of great tasting beer than 2 cases of watered down beer.
 

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