Adding water during secondary fermentation...

I'm about .4 gallons short of having a full 5 gallons....I'm transferring to secondary soon, is it worth it to add more water? Should it be boiled or is bottled water fine?

How does your gravity look on your beer? I've never added water to my secondary but if I were to do so, I would for sure boil it for at least 15 minutes and then cool before adding. If you are at the FG that you're looking for in your beer, don't even worry about adding any top offs. You'll basically be watering down your beer at this point. Might as well just let it do its thing now. Better to drink the beer you made without watering it down. Good luck!

Don't get hung up on the exact volume amount at this point...leave it be and don't water down your beer post-fermentation. It's normal to lose a half gallon or so to trub, that's the main reason lots of recipes are adjusted to 5.5 gallon going into primary. If your recipe size called for 5 gallons originally, it's normal to end up a little less after fermentation.

ifishsum said:

Don't get hung up on the exact volume amount at this point...leave it be and don't water down your beer post-fermentation. It's normal to lose a half gallon or so to trub, that's the main reason lots of recipes are adjusted to 5.5 gallon going into primary. If your recipe size called for 5 gallons originally, it's normal to end up a little less after fermentation.

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That's what I was looking for! :rockin: I'm new to brewing and started by jumping straight into All Grain via BIAB. I've got my second brew a week or so in and there is a lot of trub on the bottom. Recipe calls for a 2 stage fermentation (though I see common opinions tend to leave in primary). I am contemplating putting into a 5gal secondary but am/was concerned with the trub related loss. I think I'll be ok though as I ended up with more wort than originally anticipated after sparging with a gallon before boil. Finding that magic number preboil amount is tricky, but I'm getting closer. lol