short of 5 gallons

I brewed a 5 gallon batch.. I started with 2 gallons of water in the fermenter and then a little over 3 gallons for the boil..

when it was all said and done.. i wound up with about 4- 4 1/2 gallons in my carboy...

Will that affect the outcome?? That it came up short of 5 gallons...

Just top it up to 5 gallons with preboiled, cooled water.

Was the original gravity what you expected? If it was high you could have topped off with boiled and cooled water.

Is this an all grain batch, extract, partial mash?


Regardless of all above, it will be fine.

Dont' worry about it. I was low on my last batch and I still ended up with 44 bottles instead of the usual 48-50. Your beer will just be a little bit stronger and there will be a few less bottles to consume. If you add boiled water at this point, you may be watering down your beer.

I steeped 1 lb of grain maris otter.. then 6 and 1/2 lbs of light DME... i had a slight boil over but not enough to lose 1 gallon of water(wort)...

Just wonder if the beer will have to much body only being concentrated inside of 4- 4 1/2 gallons with the amount of malt i used

dumptrucksally said:

. i had a slight boil over but not enough to lose 1 gallon of water(wort)...

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Prob lost it in evaporation.

Add the water it will be fine

I've been adding bottled spring water to top up for years with no problems... beer still is plenty tasty and does the business!

I use Chicago tap water for top off.
Hope theres no issues.

+1 using bottled water for emergency top offs

I never bothered topping mine off. Is this something I should be doing? The only difference I've seen is that I get a little less at the end of the day.

I have already fermented my 4 1/4 gallon beer ... So i am probably in for a heavier body and more alcohol i would think... Next time i'll make sure to hit my 5 gallon volume mark....

When I started (I'm on my 10th batch, all extract) I did a few that were a little under / little over before I got used to how much water my stove boils off in an hour. Actually, my stove is pretty weak, and while it'll achieve a bubbling boil, it only loses between 2 and 3 pints in an hour boil (this is a full 5-gallon boil). It's so predictable that if I just make sure the liquid at the start of the boil is about 1/2 inch below the rivets on the inside of my boil pot, I don't have to worry about it again. After I ferment, secondary, and bottle I'm going to get about 50 bottles. Naturally, if you use one of those nuclear-powered turkey fryer burners, you're going to get a faster and more energetic boil, and lose a heck of a lot more of the wort through evaporation.

So the batch came out awesome.. I bottled last night.. 39 bottles!!

It was very bitter at the front but sweet at the back of the palate. I did use 2 oz of Columbus though. Hopefully that will mellow out in a few days in the bottle!!

don't open those in a few days. that would be a terrible waste.

give it three weeks in the bottle, at minimum. those beers still need to carbonate and condition.

Sorry i meant weeks not days.. I can't wait to crack them open. Smells amazing. Fruity and Floral.. Just hope the bitterness isn't over the top..

I always use the gravity readings to decide to top off or not top off. If I'm above my numbers, I'll top off. If not, I don't. I don't want watered down beer.

HTH,

M.

So even after fermentation i can still top off?? Or is that just going to completely ruin it??

dumptrucksally said:

So even after fermentation i can still top off?? Or is that just going to completely ruin it??

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No, only add before you pitch. Do not add any water after you pitch, flavorings and such.

Depends on where you live (water condition) you can top off to 5 1/4 gallons before you pitch. I have added tap water with no problems.

My first batch (a kinda pale ale) turned out to be about 4 gallons at bottling. I had all the same concerns as you. It's only been a week and a half in the bottle (still very little carbonation) but it tastes fantastic, and my buddy who drinks lots of higher ABV beers seems to think its pretty strong (he guessed ~8.0-8.5% but I think he's overestimating by a bit due to it still being green). I'm betting its around 5.5-7.0% based on total fermentable sugars and the 20% loss of water at bottling.

Don't fret, you may find yourself wanting to reproduce this "mistake".

Screw991le said:

No, only add before you pitch. Do not add any water after you pitch, flavorings and such.

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You can add water post-fermentation. You need to preboil it, both to kill any nasties and to drive off oxygen so the beer doesn't oxidize.

Not to say that I would do this, unless you're specifically looking for a lighter-bodied, lower-alcohol beer. I know Papazian has a recipe in one of his books that is essentially brewed and fermented as a bock, then watered down to make a lawn-mower beer.

Bike N Brew said:

You can add water post-fermentation. You need to preboil it, both to kill any nasties and to drive off oxygen so the beer doesn't oxidize.

Not to say that I would do this, unless you're specifically looking for a lighter-bodied, lower-alcohol beer. I know Papazian has a recipe in one of his books that is essentially brewed and fermented as a bock, then watered down to make a lawn-mower beer.

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I think it depends on the beer. I made a Porter which was close to 8%. Frankly that is a bit too high for my taste so I bottled with a gallon of preboiled water to dilute it to 7%. Luckily the wort had higher hops AAU so the AAU came out just right.

I had to do this with my blond ale as well. It came out fine, but I think I probably diluted a little bit of the flavor. A porter or darker beer may not lose much by dilution.

Needless to say, I don't really aim to dilute my beers, but I'm still trying to dial in my efficiency.

My understanding is that you need to top off when racking in a secondary because fermentation is now nonexistant meaning the beer may be exposed to oxygen, therefore you top-off so the liquid starts to reach up to the neck of the carboy and has a smaller surface exposed to oxygen.

coeceo said:

My understanding is that you need to top off when racking in a secondary because fermentation is now nonexistant meaning the beer may be exposed to oxygen, therefore you top-off so the liquid starts to reach up to the neck of the carboy and has a smaller surface exposed to oxygen.

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Nope, this won't work. You either purge the secondary with CO2 in some manner, or the natural outgassing of CO2 during transfer will create a buffer zone that prevents oxidation. Adding water on top of the beer is not a good idea.

coeceo said:

My understanding is that you need to top off when racking in a secondary because fermentation is now nonexistant meaning the beer may be exposed to oxygen, therefore you top-off so the liquid starts to reach up to the neck of the carboy and has a smaller surface exposed to oxygen.

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This is true for wine. Beer not so much. You risk more oxidation by adding water than you do by leaving a little head space. If you're going to age a finished beer in a carboy for months, then it would be a concern. But I've made a few batches of beer in my time, and NEVER topped up. I've made a few batches of wine, and always topped up! (Of course, when I top up a finished wine, I dont' use water anyway- I use a finished wine as to not oxidize and water down my wine).

bottled spring water if free of microbes due to passing through a pretty fine filter. Should be fine- its what ive been using for years. If your gravity if high then top off with wate rbut if its spot on then if you top off you will end up with watery beer. Good luck

I think oxidation is only going to be an issue if you add water post fermentation that you did not boil first. I would recommend boiling the water for at least ten minutes to ensure that oxygen is gone.

Again. This is not worth it in most cases. But if you formulated an All Grain recipe for 75% efficiency and you got 93%, what else are going to do?