Secondary Fermentation

I just moved my primary to secondary and noticed that my total gallons is about 4.5 gallons. Is this normal? Do I need to add water to get it back to 5 gallons?

No, don't add anything. You just lost some in the transfer. No matter how well you rack over, you will always lose something in the dregs of the primary. Adding anything now will just water down your beer. If being short a half gallon bothers you, try adjusting your recipe so you have a bigger post-boil volume.

Yeah. You are going to lose some in the trud. When I write my recipe I put in a half gallon loss for trud.

Thanks.

Perfect timing, I was just about to ask this question. We foolishly failed to account for the amount of water lost in a 5 gallon boil over the course of an hour and are well short.

Primary will be marked at five gallons as soon as it dries so we don't forget to top it off again! I was going to add about a half gallon to the secondary of boiled, then cooled water and transfer onto that ensuring a good mix in the process. Seemed logical enough but I definitely don't want to effect the taste.

Any other opinions or has djfriesen hit the nail on the head?