Is my beer gonna be watered down?

So I made my first wort a few days ago. It was a 2.5 gallon brew operation. The problem was I only 2 gallon kettles to boil in. So I just did two half recipes at the same time. I boiled them both for an hour and then ended up about 3/4 gallon short of the 2.5 gallon mark. So I just added tap water until I hit 2.5 gallons. Do you think it's going to taste watered down?!?

What was the starting gravity? What kind of beer are you making including yeast. I wouldn't think adding 3/4 of a gallon of water is going to make much difference depending on what the gravity was originally.

dozer5454 said:

What was the starting gravity? What kind of beer are you making including yeast. I wouldn't think adding 3/4 of a gallon of water is going to make much difference depending on what the gravity was originally.

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Well about that gravity. I actually Didn't learn about hydrometers until fermentation had already started. I'm going to pick up a hydrometer today but I will deffinatly use this advice next brewing session thank you!

Also I am making an amber ale I used three lbs of light DME, 8oz of crushed crystal malt and 1oz of northern brewers hop pellets.

What you did is the correct way. Your beer will end up as the recipe was intended. If this is an extract recipe then don't worry about the original gravity reading. It should be very close to the recipe estimate. You will want to use a hydrometer for the final gravity to know when the beer has finished fermentation and to estimate ABV.

WoodlandBrew said:

What you did is the correct way. Your beer will end up as the recipe was intended. If this is an extract recipe then don't worry about the original gravity reading. It should be very close to the recipe estimate. You will want to use a hydrometer for the final gravity to know when the beer has finished fermentation and to estimate ABV.

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What is this so called "ABV"......sorry newbie here

ABV = Alcohol By Volume. One of the other methods you can use is called a high-gravity boil. Pre-boil 1.5 gallons of water and put it in your sanitized fermenter. Put all the fermentables in one pot with another gallon of water (plus some extra for boil off). When the boil is over, add the high-gravity wort to the pre-boiled water in the fermenter, and top off with additional water to reach the desired volume if needed. This is how the Mr. Beer kit works, which is what I learned on.

Keep in mind that when you boiled your batch in two parts, you doubled the surface area so doubled the boil off (not exactly but pretty close). This means the gravity units you would have had with the 2 1/2 gallon boil are still there but you boiled off twice as much water. All you did was put that water back. It shouldn't taste watered down. However, you also doubled the surface area in contact with hot metal and will likely have more caramelized sugar, so it will likely be slightly darker and sweeter than it otherwise would have.

ReciprocityBrewing said:

ABV = Alcohol By Volume. One of the other methods you can use is called a high-gravity boil. Pre-boil 1.5 gallons of water and put it in your sanitized fermenter. Put all the fermentables in one pot with another gallon of water (plus some extra for boil off). When the boil is over, add the high-gravity wort to the pre-boiled water in the fermenter, and top off with additional water to reach the desired volume if needed. This is how the Mr. Beer kit works, which is what I learned on.

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Wow that sounds way easier than doing everything twice like I did thanks