to dilute or not to dilute?

[brewski08]

so i made 5.0 gallons of an IPA for a recipe designed for 5.5 gallons...which means i am missing 0.5 gallons of water in my current batch.

unfortunately, what made me realize this was when my FG was around 1.022 after 2 weeks of fermenting. much too sweet and much too thick for my liking.

i was thinking about adding 0.5 gallons to the fermenter to dilute it out and get a lower FG. anybody have any experience with this?

 

[FatDragon]

The 1.022 FG almost certainly means something went wrong along the way. Topping off another 10% of the volume isn't really going to fix the issue, and the fact that you fermented 5 gallons instead of 5.5 has nothing to do with the sweet FG.

Are you sure it's done? It sounds more like a stuck fermentation, or you may have a ton of unfermentable sugars in this brew. I would personally recommend repitching healthy yeast to see if that gets it down to a more reasonable FG.

 

[brewski08]

The 1.022 FG almost certainly means something went wrong along the way. Topping off another 10% of the volume isn't really going to fix the issue, and the fact that you fermented 5 gallons instead of 5.5 has nothing to do with the sweet FG.

Are you sure it's done? It sounds more like a stuck fermentation, or you may have a ton of unfermentable sugars in this brew. I would personally recommend repitching healthy yeast to see if that gets it down to a more reasonable FG.

i don't think it was a stuck fermentation.

fermented at 65 degrees with US-05. pitched another packet of US-05 the other day and no fermentation. i've been brewing for 2+ years with this yeast and the same conditions and have never had a problem.

what i think it comes down to is just not collecting enough wort from the mash. my OG was higher than expected as well. i am fairly certain this is due to the fact that my original volume was lower than it should have been.

 

[BlkWater_brewer]

Sounds like you just need more fermenting time. Whether you add extra water or not, 1.022 for an IPA does not signal that fermenting is complete. What was the starting gravity? In theory there is more than enough sugars left to keep the yeast going. Bump up the temp a bit and give it some time - this batch is just working at it's own pace.

 

[brewski08]

Sounds like you just need more fermenting time. Whether you add extra water or not, 1.022 for an IPA does not signal that fermenting is complete. What was the starting gravity? what yeast did you use?

US-05

OG was around 1.074ish, which was higher than expected. i probably should have been more concerned at the beginning of fermentation than i am now, but i've learned to RDWHAHB over the years and just figured my brewhouse efficiency was a little higher than normal that day.

it was this morning that i realized i only collected 5.0 gallons of wort for a recipe designed for 5.5 gallons.

 

[FatDragon]

US-05

OG was around 1.074ish, which was higher than expected. i probably should have been more concerned at the beginning of fermentation than i am now, but i've learned to RDWHAHB over the years and just figured my brewhouse efficiency was a little higher than normal that day.

it was this morning that i realized i only collected 5.0 gallons of wort for a recipe designed for 5.5 gallons.

The difference between 5 and 5.5 gallons is pretty small and shouldn't be a major factor - it would be a difference of two points in your FG. What was your expected OG and FG? Recipe? Mash temp?

 

[shortyz]

05 should chew through that sugar in no time, thats a strange reading your getting... hydrometer checks out?