Racked 3 gallon batch, came up short filling carboy.... What next??

So with the above situation, should I.......
1) leave it for a week as is, then bottle
2) top with maybe half a gallon of boiled water
3) transfer to 2 one gallon carboys and toss a half gallon in the trash
4) top with 1/2 gallon boiled water with a little DME to offset the dilution

It is probably strong enough to take to water down. Not sure what will be best. I have never left a carboy this unfilled. To my credit, I'm a very sanitary brewer, but hate to risk spoilage. Any experienced brewers with thoughts/help? Thanks all!

nevermind, misunderstood the dilemma

Leave it alone and bottle when it's actually ready... If you had left it in primary, instead of racking, you would have more brew to bottle. Take it as a lesson learned.

BTW, use hydrometer readings and tasting to determine if/when a batch is ready. Yeast/brew doesn't care one lick about human time measurements. It will be done/ready when it's good and ready, not a moment before. Plus, there's absolutely nothing wrong with letting it go longer in primary, provided you didn't way over-pitch the yeast, or do something else that you probably shouldn't have.

BTW, is this just brewed or you brewed it earlier and just racked it to a bright tank? Either way, I would let it ride.

Golddiggie said:

Leave it alone and bottle when it's actually ready... If you had left it in primary, instead of racking, you would have more brew to bottle. Take it as a lesson learned.

BTW, use hydrometer readings and tasting to determine if/when a batch is ready. Yeast/brew doesn't care one lick about human time measurements. It will be done/ready when it's good and ready, not a moment before. Plus, there's absolutely nothing wrong with letting it go longer in primary, provided you didn't way over-pitch the yeast, or do something else that you probably shouldn't have.

BTW, is this just brewed or you brewed it earlier and just racked it to a bright tank? Either way, I would let it ride.

Click to expand...

I brewed it about 8 days ago. it was a partial mash recipe.

I had always been hesitant to leave it in the primary for an extended period then go directly to bottling. It just has so much crap in the primary that the one racking leaves behind. I really need to utilize the hydrometer for testing sp gravity. I am so paranoid about contamination that I never crack that primary until I rack for fear of losing my CO2 cap and introducing bad stuff.

How do you define over pitching the yeast?

Ok, that makes very little sense to me... You're paranoid about contamination, yet you do a step that increases the chance of contamination... Leaving it in primary means one less racking, thus one less chance for contamination to happen. Leaving it in primary for longer also means that the trub will compact more, giving you more brew in the end. It also means the CO2 blanket/cap/layer/whatever remains intact until you go to bottle it.

IF you're good at racking the brew, then you can easily leave all that you don't want in bottles, behind in primary when going to bottle/keg.

Leaving the brew on the yeast cake means there's more yeast present to cleanup after itself. Since you racked off of all those cells, you won't benefit from that.

Over-pitching yeast would be going beyond what's recommended by Mr. Malty [http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html]... IMO, if you exceed the count listed by more than 25-50%, you're over-pitching by too much. If you go above that, you're setting yourself up for other issues (IMO)... I typically aim to hit either the target listed, or just under... Which typically means making a starter. Since getting a stirplate, I can hit much closer to the target cell count than before. Using pure O2 in the brew wort means the yeast replicates like rabbits on viagra initially. I also use yeast food in the boil, to make sure they have what they need early on.

I would recommend getting the new Yeast book.. I picked up a copy a while back (still have to finish reading it) but it confirms a lot of what many of us are doing here as being advised. It also puts some other fears/boogymen to rest. A good use of ~$20...

Golddiggie said:

Ok, that makes very little sense to me... You're paranoid about contamination, yet you do a step that increases the chance of contamination... Leaving it in primary means one less racking, thus one less chance for contamination to happen. Leaving it in primary for longer also means that the trub will compact more, giving you more brew in the end. It also means the CO2 blanket/cap/layer/whatever remains intact until you go to bottle it.

IF you're good at racking the brew, then you can easily leave all that you don't want in bottles, behind in primary when going to bottle/keg.

Leaving the brew on the yeast cake means there's more yeast present to cleanup after itself. Since you racked off of all those cells, you won't benefit from that.

Over-pitching yeast would be going beyond what's recommended by Mr. Malty [http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html]... IMO, if you exceed the count listed by more than 25-50%, you're over-pitching by too much. If you go above that, you're setting yourself up for other issues (IMO)... I typically aim to hit either the target listed, or just under... Which typically means making a starter. Since getting a stirplate, I can hit much closer to the target cell count than before. Using pure O2 in the brew wort means the yeast replicates like rabbits on viagra initially. I also use yeast food in the boil, to make sure they have what they need early on.

I would recommend getting the new Yeast book.. I picked up a copy a while back (still have to finish reading it) but it confirms a lot of what many of us are doing here as being advised. It also puts some other fears/boogymen to rest. A good use of ~$20...

Click to expand...

Your contamination point is sensible. I suppose I just never appreciated how much compaction can take place. Do you routinely leave the brew in the primary? Or are there certain situations where this is more advisable than others? Damn, that could be a whole other thread I my just start. I may just give it a try on my next attempt. Your point on yeast is interesting as well. I suppose that one can get lost in what their ingredients are for the brew, but neglect the little guys who will work the magic.

4 weeks + is a good primary! Straight to bottling from there. Very little sediment in the bottles with that schedule.

Depends on the brew. some I go 1/2/whatever (weeks) some I leave for 2-3 in primary and striaght to bottle, or maybe just a single weeks in secondary if it's a yeast that has a low floc rate and I want it clear.

On a general note though, leaving it on the primary cake and not touching is better than moving. If there's no reason to move leave it be, otherwise just tilt the fermenter and get what you can. That's part of the reason why my 5 gallon batches are always calculated based on 5.25 to the primary so if any gets left behind it still ends up about 5 gallons in the end.

Nice info guys, I'm sold on running it out in the primary I think. Only question is are you popping that thing open much, or maybe just at the end to do a couple successive SG checks. However, I suppose at 3 weeks, it may be a relatively safe bet that the fermentation is wrapped up. Oh yeah, any opinions on plastic vs glass for this approach?

I've gotten to the point where I let the brews go long enough that they are at FG before I even look to bottle/keg it. I do check the gravity BEFORE I bottle/keg it though, just to be sure it's in line with what it should be. Last couple of batches have been either dead on with BeerSmith 2.0, or just a hair lower. :rockin: Like the mocha porter I just sampled. I opened up the partial bottle, which (of course) was over [initially] carbonated. It did settle down though, to where I wanted it. Opening the flip-top bottle was pretty loud (flipped it completely over to the other side of the bottle). Still, tastes unreal. Reminds me of mocha ice cream, in a very good way. Not as thick, but the flavors are there. Exactly what I was going after. Already working on the rebrew of the recipe with more kiln coffee and pale chocolate malts. Planning to mash a bit higher next time, so that the FG is a bit higher. I'll try to take a good picture of the next glass I pour. I can see this one going pretty fast... :rockin: