5 gallon batch is probably more like 4 gallons

So I brewed a 5 gallon extract last night, but when I put it in the primary, it really doesn't look like 5 gallons. I got an OG of 1.07 when I should have 1.05-1.054, I added a quart of water, and decided not to mess with it too much until I found out what I should do. What's going to happen? Just a higher ABV beer? If that's all, I'm not complaining I just don't want to have really bad beer. Let me know.

THANKS!

Stad

You can top it off if you want (add 3 more quarts of cooled sanitzed water), which would lower the OG to ~1.056. If not then you are fine and yes you will have a higher ABV.

Sounds like it could have used another gallon. Diluting at pitching time is fine, it will get your wort back down to your planned OG. Now you could add more water but you should probably boil it to minimize the O2 (and sanitize obviously). If not you can just enjoy a stronger beer. If you are going to do it, do it soon. Adding water before fermentation dilutes your wort to the proper gravity, but adding water after fermentation makes for watery beer, or at least that's what I've been told. I don't intend to find out from experience!

STAD said:

So I brewed a 5 gallon extract last night, but when I put it in the primary, it really doesn't look like 5 gallons. I got an OG of 1.07 when I should have 1.05-1.054, I added a quart of water, and decided not to mess with it too much until I found out what I should do. What's going to happen? Just a higher ABV beer? If that's all, I'm not complaining I just don't want to have really bad beer. Let me know.
THANKS!

Stad

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How dare you call any beer "bad" unless you are making a Bud Light, Coors Light, Miller Light clone. ha

My first batch (and I've only completed two so far) was about 4 gallons as well. There were two things I noticed: higher ABV and high carbonation.

I'm pretty confident that the first was because of the smaller volume. The second could be just newbie mistakes, but I suspect I should've adjusted the amount of dextrose at bottling time to account for the smaller volume.
(Natch, corrections welcome from those more experienced.

Is there a way to calculate what the OG would have been AFTER I added the extra quart of water?

Here's what I did:

Took gravity reading before pitching yeast. It read 1.07.

I then added 1 quart of water.

Then I pitched yeast without taking a reading.

Is there an estimate or equation where I can figure out what the OG would have been with the extra quart before the yeast? That way, I can gauge ABV after fermentation.

Is there any reason why you would want to dilute it? I love higher ABV beer. Less wort = higher SG and alcohol. Which usually = better tasting beer IMO. My first two extra kits resulted in about 4 - 4.5 gallon batches because I forgot to compensate for the water boiled off. Still it made delicious and intoxicating beer. I would let it ride and enjoy it in six weeks.

I'm not trying to dilute it anymore at this point, I just want to be able to properly measure the ABV.