Oops... forgot to add top off water!

[the_Sliver]

Hi guys,

Started brewing way too late in the day and at the end, I was tired but thought it went well. Gravity was a bit high (1.101) but hey, I was brewing a high gravity beer so I didn't think too hard on it.

4 days later and I realized: I forgot to add top off water! I've got a bit less than 4 gallons in there when the recipe calls for 5 gallons total.

I did some reading on similar situations and the advice is all over the place: some say it's too risky at this point and to not interrupt the fermentation. Others say add it anyway as the yeast might die from the higher-than-intended ABV.

What say you, HomeBrewTalk?

In case it matters:

5 gallons, extract/specialty grains

Ingredients:

6.6 lbs. gold unhopped malt extract
2 lbs. orange blossom honey
1 lb. chocolate malt
1 lb. pale chocolate malt
1 lb. Vienna malt
0.5 lb. cara-pils malt
0.5 lb. crystal malt, 56° Lovibond
1 lb. Munich malt
2 oz. Perle hops (8% alpha acid), for 20 min.
1 oz. crystal hops (3.2% alpha acid), for finishing
Wyeast Ringwood ale

 

[the_Sliver]

I was thinking when adding the wort to secondary, I could put 1 gallon of water in first along with another packet of the same Wyeast in case they died off? Good idea? Bad?

 

[RedlegEd]

I'd go ahead and boil a gallon of water, let it cool to the same temp, then add it in. You may start a little more fermentation activity (which w/b good.) I would not add any more yeast. The yeast present should pick up and continue to ferment. What temp are you fermenting?

 

[the_Sliver]

68 f

 

[daksin]

I'd just skip it and be cool with a very strong beer. Opening it up now is just one more source of potential problems including contamination and oxygen. IT should attenuate alright with all that honey anyway. Sounds like a tasty beer!

 

[gromitdj]

Are you bottling? If so, you could prepare you're priming sugar in 1 gallon of water and prime like normal. If kegging, you could boil 1 gallon of water and add to the keg before transfer.

If you want to hit your F.G. exactly, determine your volume and use the Brewer's Friend dilution calculator to figure out how much water to add. Or if you like the way it tastes as is, leave it be.

Easy Peasy, lemon squeezy!

 

[zonmei]

I just did the same exact thing. I came in at a little over 4 gallons post boil and forgot to top off. I also put a full ounce of finishing hops instead of a half. But I got a great bitter out of it. Extra instead of standard