Too much water in full boil

Hi everyone,
I did my 2nd full boil today but I didn’t lose as much water during boiling as I expected. When I put the wort in my carboy it was a little over 5 ½ gallons. I was using a 5 gallon extract kit for a cream stout. The OG was 1.040. The recipe said it should be 1.044. Does the extra water account for this? I went ahead and pitched the yeast, is there anything I can adjust at this point or should I just leave well enough alone?
Thanks

Extra water will lower the gravity. I would let ride and learn from this batch. It's not a mistake, it an artistic version of a beer with our own flair.

Should probably be close enough. You may end up with a little less ABV than expected but taste should be similar.

I don't think there's really anything you can do at this point. Beer should still be fine.

Thanks guys!

Alucard1983 said:

It's not a mistake, it an artistic version of a beer with our own flair.

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I like that, lol

My inner-perfectionist will just have to get used to my artistic flair.

If the beer is drinkable its not a mistake. Helll you dont want every brew the same. You changed it up a little heheheh

Alucard1983 said:

It's not a mistake, it an artistic version of a beer with our own flair.

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Love this. It is as true as it gets, and to be honest with that little difference you're still going to have a great beer.

In the future, take a reading 10 min before flame out and adjust your boil time/final additions as needed to get the final numbers you want.

All in all, DWRHAHB. It'll all be fine.

Alucard1983 said:

If th e beer is drinkable its not a mistake. Helll you dont want every brew the same. You changed it up a little heheheh

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This might turn out to be your signature beer !

I am thinking of getting a refractometer so I can boil to gravity .. I am sure it will be fine

I have a large stiring spoon that is long enough to reach the bottom of my 10 gallon brew kettle. I used a dremmel to etch in graduation marks on the spoon. Each line equals 1 gallon of volume. I use that to judge how long my boil needs to be to ensure the correct final volume I want going into the fermenter.

johnsma22 said:

I have a large stiring spoon that is long enough to reach the bottom of my 10 gallon brew kettle. I used a dremmel to etch in graduation marks on the spoon. Each line equals 1 gallon of volume. I use that to judge how long my boil needs to be to ensure the correct final volume I want going into the fermenter.

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I do this exact same thing. I usually check my volumes every 15 minutes into the boil. I boil off at 2 gallons an hour (I have a large wide 15 gallon pot). So I know I need to boil off about half gallon every 15 minutes. I usually adjust the intensity of my boil based on volume. If I'm not boiling off fast enough, I turn up the burner a bit. Too much boil off and I'll turn it down. I've had good luck with this method. I also try to use this method in tandem with checking my gravities with a refractometer. I usually check my gravity 2 or 3 minutes before the end of my boil to make sure I'm pretty close to target gravity.

I've also had a few beers that were a little high on the volume side. They always turn out great! Just a slight deviation from what my main goal was.

johnsma22 said:

I have a large stiring spoon that is long enough to reach the bottom of my 10 gallon brew kettle. I used a dremmel to etch in graduation marks on the spoon. Each line equals 1 gallon of volume. I use that to judge how long my boil needs to be to ensure the correct final volume I want going into the fermenter.

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Great Idea, I have a spoon that will work for that.

This also became my 1st blow off during the night. Based on the splatter pattern it must have been spectacular. On a side note, Simple Green will get kroisen off the ceiling. I tried Servomyces for the 1st time with this batch, so I suspect that had something to do with it.

I did the same thing it turned out fine . Drink up

johnsma22 said:

I have a large stiring spoon that is long enough to reach the bottom of my 10 gallon brew kettle. I used a dremmel to etch in graduation marks on the spoon. Each line equals 1 gallon of volume. I use that to judge how long my boil needs to be to ensure the correct final volume I want going into the fermenter.

Click to expand...

I never thought of that, i just eyeball my boil usually always works well for me.THat wouldnt work for a high hopped whole hop boil though.Unless you squeeze out all the water out of 3-4 oz of hops.