Oops! I used too much water

Hey guys,
I used 23 L for a 19 L (5 Gallon) batch.
I guess it will be a little weaker, less hoppy and lower in alcohol?
I brewed the American Real Ale recipe from Papazian's book
It's now two days in the primary. Can I add anything?

Your stuck with it now. It'll still be drinkable. If you check your gravity while its boiling... You can always boil harder or add some DME to get your gravity back up.

When I first started brewing I did it a few times.

I boiled with the right amount of water but filled the primary too high. I was being distracted by a few things in the household and filled it to the wrong line on the side of the bucket.

Yeah, you'll end up with a weaker beer in abv and ibu. Not really much you can do at this point, just let it finish out and chalk it up to something to watch out for on the next batch. You'll still end up with beer and it'll probably still be good.

I just opened a bottle (it's been in the bottles for 5 days).
No carbonation. I had added the cup of DME for bottling (+ a little extra to make up for the greater amount of water). No pop. No fizz. Nothing.
Is dumping the next step?

Sir-Hops-A-Lot said:

I just opened a bottle (it's been in the bottles for 5 days).
No carbonation. I had added the cup of DME for bottling (+ a little extra to make up for the greater amount of water). No pop. No fizz. Nothing.
Is dumping the next step?

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Sorry but 5 days is not enough time to carbonate. The general minimum is 3 weeks at 70F. Some take longer few go shorter: Using DME you are probably looking at longer

As for your water volume error keep in mind that if this happens again you can always re-boil the wort to remove the excess water, but ONLY before you pitch the yeast. Once the yeast is pitched you're best to leave it be

Give it more time to carb. DME isn't as easy for the yeast to convert as sugar and even with sugar it can take over 2 weeks to carb. Just depends on the conditions.

Sir-Hops-A-Lot said:

I just opened a bottle (it's been in the bottles for 5 days).
No carbonation. I had added the cup of DME for bottling (+ a little extra to make up for the greater amount of water). No pop. No fizz. Nothing.
Is dumping the next step?

Click to expand...

No. Let them stand in bottles for several weeks. Keep them fridge up for at least a week. Then try another one.

Also the longer you let them sit in fridge the more "pop" and "head" you shall receive! Hope Im right (newb) just going by on what iv been reading and learning. Cheers!

ok thanks fellas. I guess patience is always the best tactic. It's not like I'm short of bottles.

EnjoyGoodBeer said:

No. Let them stand in bottles for several weeks. Keep them fridge up for at least a week. Then try another one.

Also the longer you let them sit in fridge the more "pop" and "head" you shall receive! Hope Im right (newb) just going by on what iv been reading and learning. Cheers!

Click to expand...

If you place them in the fridge before they actually carbonate they will take A LOT LONGER! Let them sit at 70F for a few weeks and then try one. If not ready go longer.