When is the best time to add extra water?

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bigbrohog

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If I only end up with 3 or so gallons of wort after the boil, when is the best time to add the extra water? I know to make sure that it has already been boiled and cooled, but do you add it directly to your boiling wort? Do you add it to the fermenter when you pour in your cooled wort? Before of after pitching the yeast? Or do you wait until you rack your beer from the primary to the secondary and then top it off? I read somewhere that by adding water it changes the pressure, and you can damage your yeast. Also, how does the addition of extra water affect your hydrometer readings?
 
I add my extra water after the wort cools before I pitch my yeast.

That is what the book I read when I started said to do.
 
You should already have some cold water in your receiving vessel, be it a pail, or carboy, and be able to cool more if necessary.
 
It depends on what you brewed to begin with.

If you made a 5 gallon recipie and only boiled 3 gallons then you need to top up to 5 gallons to get you recipie SG. You can add boiled, aerated water to the fermenter.

If you boiled 5 gallons of a 5 gallon recipie, then you can add make up water to the boil or to the fermenter if it is boiled and aerated.

Some have added water to the fermenter without boiling at all (myself included) without any adverse effects. It depends on how well you trust your local water.

Keeping your water topped up in a 5 gallon boil helps with your hop calculations IMO.
 
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