Topping Off

Newbie question.

It looks like I underfilled the carboy by maybe a half gallon.

Is it OK to top off the wort? If so, when? Fermentation is just about done.

I was thinking about adding the water when I bottle.

Any thoughts?

I personally don't do it if it's finished or nearly finished fermenting. There a risk of infection AND that is watering down the beer....Personally I would rather have 4.5 gallons of properly fermented beer, than 5 gallons of dilluted...

I mean, it's not the ONLY batch of beer you ever will brew, you are going to be making plenty of batches, so this 1/2 gallon in the long run won't even really matter...

Did you use your hydrometer at the beginning? If you did, and the gravity was where it should be, I wouldn't add water and dilute the beer. If you didn't, it's a guessing game but if the beer tastes good, I'd leave it alone.

Did the same thing with a batch of IPA. It is the best batch I have made. Leave it, it will be just fine if your OG and FG are where they should be.

On deck IPA
Primary: APA
Secondary:
Drinking: Pale Ale, Oatmeal Stout, Orange Honey Wheat, IPA


De`ja`-Brew
We have all been beer before.

To me even if the OG was not where it should be, it just means you have 4.5 gallons of slightly stronger beer, nothing wrong with that either.....

Revvy said:

To me even if the OG was not where it should be, it just means you have 4.5 gallons of slightly stronger beer, nothing wrong with that either.....

Click to expand...

+1. Depending on lots of variables (efficiency, humidity during boil, carelessness, not straining/straining hops, etc), it is no unusual for me to miss my target volume and I never try to adjust for it. I just take notes (in case i want it again) and two months down the road taste what came out. I really can't think of a time where I tasted a brew and thought "could be a little more watery".

I think I'll leave it alone.

Thanks.

Revvy said:

To me even if the OG was not where it should be, it just means you have 4.5 gallons of slightly stronger beer, nothing wrong with that either.....

Click to expand...

+1 Stronger beer is nothing that needs to be fixed

+1 on leaving it.

As wisely posted earlier, this isn't your last batch. RDWHAHB, take notes, and learn from your previous batches and soon you'll learn that yeast is great at covering up our short comings.

It is a nice feeling when you see a question and already know what the majority of the answers will be before even looking at them. Just a sign of how much I have learned since I brewed my first beer. Now back to the wild beer forum where I really lack.