I'm an idiot (or, I forgot to top up FV...)

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surista

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Posted this to another forum, but hoping I can get more advice...

I brewed my second batch ever yesterday - it was great, cackling around the kitchen like a mad scientist all afternoon. This morning when I went to work the yeasties were doing their thing, bubbling merrily along. I thought it was coming along quite well.

Then I got home this evening from work, and my wife casually mentioned, 'you know for a lager it seems kinda dark'.

Hmm, now that you mention it, it does. And now that you mention it again....there seems to be a lot of room in that 23-litre FV for what is supposed to be a five-gallon batch.

Hmmm.

:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

Yep - I completely forgot to top up to five gallons. The recipe is to boil six liters for an hour with the hops, add 8 liters to the FV, add the wort, then top up to five gallons. I didn't do that last step. As a result, I have about 15 litres of what should be a five-gallon batch.

Soooo - is it too late to anything? The yeasties are bubbling away, so I'm guessing I should just go with it and see what happens - any guess as to how it will turn out? Really really really strong and high alcohol content? Will it be drinkable? Anyway I can add more water to the mix at some point?

Any help greatly appreciated!!
 
Leave it AIWI. It just means that it will get you more pissed.
 
what the hell is a liter? :cross::cross:i think you should top it off with some bottled water from the store, give it a quick shake and then let it go.
 
Top it up. The recipe is designed for 23 . . .um . ..liters? is that something like a quart? Anyway, fill to 23 qts but do it asap so the yeast can still scrub or use the o2 in it.
 
Topping off shouldn't hurt it...That's what I'd do.

Heck, I once realized that my markings were way off, so I topped off a full extra gallon at bottling time. Just use good, clean water to top off. Bottled, boiled, or if you have good enough tap water, tap.
 
Sorry - I'm from the US, but living in the UK. A liter (or litre) is a bit more than a quart (or, as they say, a liter is a liter (little) bit more than a quart (specifically, 1 liter = 1.05 quarts).

I had some siphon-use tubing available, so I boiled about 8 liters of water, let it cool, slipped off the airlock, slipped in the tubing into the mix, and using a funnel, poured in the boiled water, then put the airlock back in. I tried not to mix things up that much; adding O2 didn't seem to be a very good idea.

The yeasties were back to doing their thing pretty quickly after, so I think it went ok, but I did get a bit of layered action going on; it looks like the new water settled below the already-mixed mixture. Don't know if I should give it a shake now to mix it up or not...
 
When you move it to the secondary, the mixing should happen. Then its just time to wait and bottle! Enjoy buddy!
 
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