Adding water to bring to 5 gallons

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brendan65

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I am asking this after I already did it and now that I have done it I am worried I biffed up my batch.
I brewed an IPA and was supposed to yield 5 gallons. I came in at 4.5 and withouth doing any research on it, I added a half gallon of water to bring up to 5. Is this going to hurt my beer? I know that wort is thicker than water. I stirred it in vigorously. Any ideas? Also, I realized by doing this my OG came in at 1046. I was supposed to be at 1056. Any comments or constructive criticism would be appreciated!
 
Second that. A lot of extract brewers do just that when they only have the capacity to do partial boils.
 
brewmeister13 said:
Second that. A lot of extract brewers do just that when they only have the capacity to do partial boils.
Click to expand...

That's me. I do 1-1.5 gallon boils and use 3.5-4 gallons of make-up water. I do mostly extract so it is hard to mess up the gravity.

If you ever run short again, you might consider keeping some DME on hand and adding it to your make-up so you don't screw up the gravity (i.e. if your 4.5 gallons is right on OG at 1.056, heat up 0.5 gallons on the stove and add enough DME to get that 0.5 gallons to 1.056, then add that as your make-up).
 
Gravity is a measurement of density as compared to water (typically at 68F, some hydrometers are calibrated differently). Wort that is 1.056 is 5.6% more dense than water, 1.046 is 4.6% more dense than water. Sugar is more dense than water, so the sugar content of the sugar raises the gravity reading.

That's all there is to it!

So, if your gravity is 1.046, and you add water, there is now a higher concentration of water and a lower concentration of sugars, so your gravity will go down. That's not what you want in your case, since you are already below your OG.

Question, was this an extract batch? Extract has a SET sugar content, so that means it has a set gravity contribution. Assuming you put all of the LME and DME into your wort, you CAN'T have a lower gravity. At 4.5 gallons instead of 5.0 gallons, you'd have a higher than expected gravity.

So, if you are doing extract, chances are good you measured wrong, and it's fine to go head and top off to 5 gallons.

If you are doing all grain, obviously the density of sugars in the wort is variable based on your mash temps and overall efficiency, so chances are that 1.046 reading is right, and you DO NOT want to add extra water, since that will literally water down your beer.

Hope all that makes sense! Learn the concept, and you'll be better at troubleshooting in the future, at least when it comes to gravity.
 
TopherM said:
Gravity is a measurement of density as compared to water (typically at 68F, some hydrometers are calibrated differently). Wort that is 1.056 is 5.6% more dense than water, 1.046 is 4.6% more dense than water. Sugar is more dense than water, so the sugar content of the sugar raises the gravity reading.

That's all there is to it!

So, if your gravity is 1.046, and you add water, there is now a higher concentration of water and a lower concentration of sugars, so your gravity will go down. That's not what you want in your case, since you are already below your OG.

Question, was this an extract batch? Extract has a SET sugar content, so that means it has a set gravity contribution. Assuming you put all of the LME and DME into your wort, you CAN'T have a lower gravity. At 4.5 gallons instead of 5.0 gallons, you'd have a higher than expected gravity.

So, if you are doing extract, chances are good you measured wrong, and it's fine to go head and top off to 5 gallons.

If you are doing all grain, obviously the density of sugars in the wort is variable based on your mash temps and overall efficiency, so chances are that 1.046 reading is right, and you DO NOT want to add extra water, since that will literally water down your beer.

Hope all that makes sense! Learn the concept, and you'll be better at troubleshooting in the future, at least when it comes to gravity.
Click to expand...

I did an all grain batch. The OG of 1.046 was the reading I got after I added the .5 gallons to the batch. I added the water and immediately I thought "Maybe I shouldnt have done that!" But it was too late so I mix the hell out of it and then took a gravity reading and pitched my yeast. My target OG was 1.056 and I may have gotten close to that if I wouldnt have added the .5 gallons to it. I just was curious as to the future about what will happen. I will most definitely not be adding water again. I will just ride with the amount that I yield.
 
Adding top-off water is perfectly acceptable if you boil off too much liquid (or do partial boils), but IMHO it's better to add until you reach your desired original gravity, not your desired volume.

I'd reader have 4.75 gallons of proper gravity beer than 5 gallons of slightly thin tasting beer.
 

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