Did I add to much water after the boil ?

[JohnT]

Hi all, first batch and first post.
I brewed a BB American Amber and folowed the instructions to the letter except I didn't take a OG. I tried but couldn't get a good reading from the primary.(to much foam) so I just added water to make the 5 gal.

I just pulled a sample to get a FG after being in the primary for a week, 1.010.
Directions state FG should be 1.012-1.015.
Thing is it has no body, tastes ok but more like flavored water.
Could I have added to much water after the boil?? and is there a way to fix this?

 

[bob1852]

warm, young ("green") beer tends to taste totally different than carbed, conditioned, and chilled beer....

I'd wait a few more days, then bottle and condition for at least three weeks.

But, for the next brew - how did you top off to 5-gallons? Did you using the marking on the ale pail (bucket)? Those tend to not always been 100% accurate, so you may have topped off a little more...

But the difference between 1.010 and 1.012 won't be that big of a deal when it's all said and done.

And, welcome to the forum

 

[CABeerMaker]

Since you couldn't get a good OG reading it is hard to say if you added too much water. However, there are many times that I get lower than expected FG's, I may be wrong but I feel that is just an indication of really active yeast. Your beer will taste watered down right now as it still needs to condition and carb. Let it continue fermenting for a few more days and check your gravity again, if it still reads the same it is done and you can bottle. Give it about 3 weeks and it should taste fine.

 

[bgrayson726]

I added too much water to my barley wine that I'm conditioning until sept/oct. It's not a big deal if you did, i was expecting an OG of 1.102, and got an OG of 1.090-1.093. It's no big deal really. You'll still have a full-bodied beer in my opinion. It hopefully won't taste watered down if it wasn't supposed to be a high OG beer. Who knows? My barley wine tasted like it has amazing potential when i tasted the hydrometer after a month

 

[JohnT]

Thanks for the replies,

Yes I relied on the pale marks to top off, I will measure and mark the 5 gal. mark on the pale before the next batch.

I didn't expect the sample to taste good, tasted better than expected, just assumed it wouldn't have the consistency of weak tea.
Is this how beer starts then gets more body as it conditions?

btw, the og called for should have been 1.050-1.054.

 

[Malintent]

If I had to guess based on the info at hand... I'd say that it is a bit watered down.

 

[JohnT]

Is it worth it to wait it out?
I'd hate to go through the trouble of bottling and waiting 3 weeks to find out I still have watered down beer

I'm going to start onother today and pay more attention to the water / OG

 

[bob1852]

Is it worth it to wait it out?
I'd hate to go through the trouble of bottling and waiting 3 weeks to find out I still have watered down beer

I'm going to start onother today and pay more attention to the water / OG

Yes, it's worth the wait!!!!!! You'd dump perfectly good beer over .002 gravity points? Heck, that's within the error of how many people read their hydrometers.....

 

[Brandonovich]

Definitely bottle it and drink it, because you will have no idea how off you were otherwise. Unless a beer is contaminated and totally ruined, you should take it all the way through and learn from it. You won't know what it tastes like until it is carbonated, aged, and chilled. Once you do, you may be surprised at how little it is off. Besides, drinking substandard beer is kinda like eating crappy pizza, its still pretty good!

 

[JohnT]

Its settled then, will take it all the way and see what happens.
If it doesn't turn out at least I'll learn something.

Thanks guys

 

[JohnT]

The american ale has been in the bottle for a little over a week. I chilled a bottle and it did have a good tast. Still to bitter, hope that mellows out some over the next couple of weeks.

I also have a IPA in the secondary, needed the primary, a Weizenbier bubbleling in the primary for 8 days now ! and about to start a Imperial IPA.

As you see I've started my pipeline, so I won't be so anxious, as I am now, to drink the beer young.

One thing I've noticed with the BB kits is I've been short 1/2 to 3/4 gal in the primary to get the OG where it should be. Thoughts?

I also want to thank all that have contributed to this forum. I've been reading posts here almost every night and learn something on every page.
Thanks !

 

[jollytim]

One thing I've noticed with the BB kits is I've been short 1/2 to 3/4 gal in the primary to get the OG where it should be. Thoughts?

Sounds like you need to calibrate your hydrometer. I wouldn't expect those kits to be off by much.

 

[JohnT]

I have a refractometer that I calibrated against the hydrometer in distiled water. The refactometer was only .0001 off the hydrometer reading.
Can you have a bad hydometer?

 

[jollytim]

Yes. I have one at brewery. Don't know if it's been dropped or what, but it's way off. Needless to say, I don't use that one.