Try to fix SG or leave it alone?

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whoaru99

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My third batch brewed yesterday afternoon, a maibock lager.

Inadvertently added too much top-off water and missed the target OG (1.064 - 1.066), ending up at 1.061.

Should I try to fix the SG or leave it alone?

If fix, all I have is table sugar, honey, etc. No DME or LME, and how much would be necessary to add for ~5.25 gal?
 
I would leave it alone also.

With that said, if you really wanted to try and "fix" it, Mosher states, "In a 5-gallon batch, a pound of suger contribute 1.0094 original gravity" (Radical Brewing, p. 196). With that in mind, you could add about 1/3 to 1/2 pound of table sugar to get you there. I would put it in a small amount of water, boil it, and cool it, though, just to make sure I killed anything I didn't want. On the other hand, if you wanted to use honey, Palmer says it adds 38 ppg (How to Brew, p. 245.). With that in mind, adding 1/2 pound would add 3.6 gravity points to 5.25 gallons. Palmer recommends pasteurizing honey before adding it by heating it at 176 for 30 minutes and then cooling it (p.244).

I would also mention that simple sugars will pretty much completely ferment out, contributing more alcohol without really adding much else. Honey might be a little different based on when you add it. Palmer states, "To retain the most honey flavor and ensure the best fermentation performance, the honey should be added to the fermenter after primary fermentation" (p.244).
 
Ok. Leave it it is.

That was my initial reaction yesterday, but then I had all night to second-guess it.
 
Another vote for leave. Don't mess up your beer chasing the BJCP specs. They are only recommended and guaranteed at least one of the top 3 commercial examples "is not to style" either if you were to see the numbers in the brew log. There is no way you'd be able to tell the difference between an OG 1.061 and an OG 1.064 beer by taste anyways. The percentage of difference is way too small. 3pts is noticeable in terminal gravity (eg 1.007 vs 1.010 is 30% difference) but not in original gravity (1.061 vs 1.064 is less than 5% difference)
 

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