After careful measuring, my carboy doesnt look full enough...

I am fermenting in a 5 gallon carboy, and when i compare mine with other pictures, my carboy seems its at maybe 4 gallons? My question is, when the fermenting is complete, can i add water to add up to 5 gallons just before the bottling process? I am scared my brew will be way to strong when its done.

Here's a picture..



Thanks guys!

It won't be ridiculously strong. In fact, it will be just what your hydrometer says assuming you took an OG reading. I wouldn't top off after fermentation, it will just make it watery I think.

That's about how much I had when I racked to a secondary fermenter with my first brew. I imagine some was soaked up by the trub, but not enough to make that significant of a difference. But oh well, you can always make more beer.

Yeah but i dont really feel like ruining 40$ worth of beer. It would kinda of be a huge dissappoint seeing how this is my first time.

It's a little late for this batch but I filled my carboys with water using a measuring container and marked off each gallon with tape. I also marked it with a Sharpie but good ole Oxy-CLean took that right off. Somebody mentioned an etching method but for me the tape is working.

I assume you mean 'strong' (as in flavor) not alcohol content...if so, don't worry. I made an IPA with less in the glass carboy than you have (I was bummed too at first) the beer has a stronger flavor, but is great! You can tweak the next 5 gallons...but first enjoy this batch...it will be fine. Don't add water...just drink and enjoy. Cheers.

LarryC said:

It's a little late for this batch but I filled my carboys with water using a measuring container and marked off each gallon with tape. I also marked it with a Sharpie but good ole Oxy-CLean took that right off. Somebody mentioned an etching method but for me the tape is working.

Click to expand...

Borrow some fingernail polish from SWMBO (or if you want to use your own, no one will judge you here!). This works really well for graduating your carboy and is relatively impervious to oxyclean (I refresh the marks every year or so, as needed)

You may have boiled your 6 gallons down to 4 instead of 5? If you started at 5, then perhaps you didn't account for evaporative losses?

No worries, mate - I rarely end up exactly at 5. Your hydrometer readings are the real indicator of how your beer is - did it meet the expected OG? If your OG is higher than the recipe, you boiled off too much water. But it will still be beer.

+1 with the others, don't add water AFTER fermentation. If you need top-off water, do that before fermenting (that, too, will reduce your OG).

It will still be beer. Enjoy.

Drink the beer as is. Chalk it up to a lesson learned and don't make the mistakes again.

1. Mark your carboy at desired increments before brewing. Mine is marked at 5, 5.25, and 6 gallons with a label maker.
2. Take gravity readings and write them down.

Lots of people make mistakes, just learn from them and move on.

Good luck.

Eric

most of my beer is a mistake and that is why it is a hobby, but the best part is, when your beer mistake turns out to be pretty nice...

You think you made a mistake? Listen to this.

I broke my hydrometer just as I was about to take the gravity. I only had about 13 - 14litres. I normally top up with water. I'd saved a hydrometer sample but got confused and pitched the yeast anyway (long brew day, a few pints consumed)

The next day I bought a new hydrometer and tested my hydrometer sample in the fridge 1.050 - ten points higher than I wanted it to be. Problem is, it had already started bubbling away, so I couldn't add water and see if the gravity was what I wanted. So, I got out a calculator and found out how much sugar in a litre of 1.050 wort and worked out how many litres of water I could add and dumped that in. In the middle of fermentation!

I'll let you know how this one turns out. I'd be surprised if it turned out how I expected it to be, but I'm sure it'll turn out fine.

My first batch was 1.070 (I was aiming for 1.040) it was delicious. My second came out at 1.060 (aiming for 1.040) delicious too. That's when I learnt about adding water.

For 5 gallon batches, I usually tweak the recipe to make 5.5 and get the same profile and gravity. That way I have a half gallon to give to the beer gods from the trub, the transferring, the dry hopping, etc...

BruDaddy said:

Borrow some fingernail polish from SWMBO (or if you want to use your own, no one will judge you here!). This works really well for graduating your carboy and is relatively impervious to oxyclean (I refresh the marks every year or so, as needed)

Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip! I'll be marking my carboys this weekend (with she SWMBO's product )