boiled off too many gallons

So I did AG batch #2 @ night. Everything went smooth until I discovered I boiled off too much wort. Last brew I had too much wort at the end so I increased the burner intensity. Obviously a mistake. Due to the darkness I didn't realize this mistake until I was ready to chill the wort. Should I have added tap water to bring up the final volume?? Spring water from a store?? When should I have added? When chilling? When adding to the carboy? I just took what I had and called it a night. Just going to be a little thicker brew.
So many things to remember, so few brain cells left

I did the same thing on my first AG Have you pitched yet?? If NOT then I would recommend boiling & cooling the water and adding it to the wort.

If you have, I would guess that the recommendation is that you leave it alone.

lrr81765 said:

I did the same thing on my first AG Have you pitched yet?? If NOT then I would recommend boiling & cooling the water and adding it to the wort.

If you have, I would guess that the recommendation is that you leave it alone.

Click to expand...

Yeah I pitched last night. It's bubbling away as I type. I guess I should always keep a few gallons of distilled water on hand. What water is best to keep on hand? store distilled? store spring?

Did you check your OG? If it was high, you could add water to get you to the proper OG for that batch. Beersmith has a dilution calculator.

I use tap water for brewing (I filter it with an RV type filter) so I'd just use that. But if you have some spring water around, that would probably be fine.

YooperBrew said:

Did you check your OG? If it was high, you could add water to get you to the proper OG for that batch. Beersmith has a dilution calculator.

I use tap water for brewing (I filter it with an RV type filter) so I'd just use that. But if you have some spring water around, that would probably be fine.

Click to expand...

Once I realized I boiled off too much I did not take OG, I know my bad. I have good tap water but I figured that once I was done I didn't want to add non-boiled/non-sterile water. I no longer wanted to boil any more water last night. Do you boil that water or just hurled it in? I figured distilled store water would be pretty sterile to add as is. Maybe I should have used some carbon filtered tap water w/out boiling it.
I'll play w/ BS calculator for dilution, didn't know it existed. thanks

I've topped off an used tap water to no ill affect in the primary before yeast pitching, when I've been short. Obvioulsy if you have the time to boil and cool some, or have spring it wouldn't hurt...But honestly if topping off in extract batches with tap water is OK, it's really the same for the ag....

And I agree, the dillution tool in beersmith and the other programs are a godsend.

Same thing happened to me this past weekend, I ended up with about 4.9 gallons or so. I didn't even think to add water, but I would have just added cold tap water just before pitching yeast.

SG of water is 1 so you can take (orig volume x original SG + water volume added) / end volume.

(4.5 x 1.060 + .5) /5 = 1.054

You can do alcohol by volume similarly only you can skip adding anything since you aren't adding any alcohol. If you had 4.5 gal of beer at 6% alcohol and topped it up to 5:

4.5 * 6 / 5 = 5.4% ABV

Has anyone suffered ill effects from topping off after fermentation started or for that matter after it ends? Obviously, boiling it first ir recommended though I've done plenty of extract brews topping off with unboiled store-bought spring water or even tap water.

you can dilute with water at any point in the fermentation. However, it will affect yeast metabolism and so change flavour profile depending on wheather you dilute at the beginning or the end.
For instance, many big commercial operations diulte their Higher OG wort at the end of fermentation to get their final product.

I never top off. What I do is I aim for my numbers. The first few times I ended up with too much or too little. Rather than adjusting your flame, maybe consider adjusting the amount of sparge water you use, so your pre-boil volume is where it needs to be in order to hit your targets. Then you can eventually hit the right volume.

Worked like a charm for me until I used 8 ounces of hops in my last beer and ended up almost a gallon short.

I'd rather boil off too much than not enough causing you to have a lower OG. If I come up a good bit short volume wise and am thinking of topping up, like has already been said, then I'll take a gravity reading and top up to a target gravity.

Before I bought a filter and left a lot of wort on the bottom of my pot for fear of lots of trub in my fermenter, I'd often come up short in the fermenter. I'd measure to get a gravity and it would be spot on so I'd leave it as is.

I often boil to less than 5 gals and then add 1-2 liters of hop tea before bottling.

Thanks for all of the advice. I will add a little at the secondary transfer when I add gelatin. I'll figure out the FG and wing it. Next time I will use BS. You really get a lot for that program. Charlie

balto charlie said:

Once I realized I boiled off too much I did not take OG, I know my bad.

Click to expand...

Maybe just me, but I always take an OG reading. Gives you a good idea how you did and what you're going to end up with.

cee3 said:

Maybe just me, but I always take an OG reading. Gives you a good idea how you did and what you're going to end up with.

Click to expand...

I usually do as well but thought it was worthless since I missed the final amount. I am now realizing the mistake. Only my 2nd AG so I'll get it all down eventually. Always learning:rockin: