adding water before bottling

[cdogwilly]

Hi guys, can anyone help me out with this question? I have 4 1/4 gallons of fermented beer because that is where it met the OG. If for some reason I get a lower FG than anticipated, can I add water before bottling to make it 5 gallons?

 

[mcbaumannerb]

I would advise against it. Why risk watering down or even worse, infecting it, to get a few more bottles? Just bottle what you have and enjoy. Take this experience into account for you next brew so you can get closer to your volume.

 

[ACbrewer]

You can add water at this point, but it would only decrease the fg more. And it will dilute and thin the beer. Although not to much as .5 gallon on 5g total would be about 10%. Depending on flavor, I'd probably just bottle and be done with it myself, and not dilute

 

[WoodlandBrew]

I've diluted part of a batch of beer to add some more variety to the mix. Diluting the beer will make it taste more like BMC IME. I wouldn't do it just to get more bottles.

 

[Yooper]

Sure, you can. But why would you? You could take a sample, and taste it. Then dilute it with water and taste it again, and see which you like better.

I'd rather have 4.25 gallons of great beer rather than 5 gallons of watered down beer, if it was me.

There isn't anything magical about an even 5 gallons, so settling for 45 bottles of good beer instead of 53 that are 15% watered down seems like a good trade.

 

[cdogwilly]

OK. That's exactly what I was wondering. I'll just leave it alone and bottle. Thanks for your insights