2nd batch: is it ruined?

[carolinareaper]

Followed recipe to the T but had significant boil over. At the end I transferred one gallon of wort into the primary fermentor and added 3.5 gallons of water.

Is it worth keeping??

 

[kh54s10]

How much was the starting volume before the boil over? How much was the kit supposed to make? What was the OG supposed to be? What OG did you get?

Is the beer ruined? NO. It may be weak or very strong depending on the answers to the questions.

 

[lolcats]

It depends, what's your starting gravity?

You shouldn't dilute your wort after the boil. You'll just end up losing flavor and diluting sugars

 

[Revvy]

It depends, what's your starting gravity?

You shouldn't dilute your wort after the boil. You'll just end up losing flavor and diluting sugars

This isn't exactly accurate... extract brewers top off 50% of their volume post wort boil... and sometimes even ag brewers need to top off in their fermenters.

Beersmith even has a tool called the dillution ratio tool...

A lot of folks, including myself as I demonstrate here do top off allgrain stovetop boils like in the winter when we don't want to stand around our turkey fryers in freezing weather.... The dillution tool comes in handy.

It's post fermentation where adding water isn't a good idea... prefermentation is perfectly normal.

Now as to the OP... The only way to know is to see the batch through... you could take a grav reading and try to do the math,or try to use the dillution tool to see how much the original wort concentrated down to, THEN see how much it dilluted to see what the gravity would be...

 

[carolinareaper]

Thanks for the responses. Original batch was for 5 gallons. So I started with 2.5 gallons of water plus ingredients. With boil off I was left with 1 gallon.

As for the question on OG, good question and unfortunately I neglected that step.

Can I assume it will be extra diluted?
@revvy, do you have a link to that dilution tool?

 

[Brownalemikie]

Thanks for the responses. Original batch was for 5 gallons. So I started with 2.5 gallons of water plus ingredients. With boil off I was left with 1 gallon.

As for the question on OG, good question and unfortunately I neglected that step.

Can I assume it will be extra diluted?
@revvy, do you have a link to that dilution tool?

Sounds to me like you might just want to add about 2 gallons otherwise your beer will be deleted too much. JMO

 

[carolinareaper]

Problem is I already added 3.5 gallons.. that why Im wondering if it's worth keeping.

 

[kh54s10]

Yes it is worth keeping. If your fermentation has not started you can take a gravity reading now. You might be too high a gravity. The sugars are more concentrated if you boil off too much water. Then you still need to add water to 5 gallons. You said you had a boil over. How much liquid was lost. Boil overs are usually mostly foam. It looks like you lose a lot of wort, but it is not that much.

You really need to know the gravity to know how much water you need or don't need for dilution.

As it is I think you really should have added water close to, if not exactly to, five gallons into the fermenter. That is guessing that you didn't lose 1.5 gallons in your boil over and the evaporation.

How much do you think that you really lost in the boil over. I would think a gallon + would be a HUGE mess.

 

[carolinareaper]

It was a pretty decent mess. Hard to say exactly how much was actually lost. Anyhow it's happily bubbling away. I guess I'll find out. I'll definitely watch it more closely next time. Thanks for the help!

 

[kh54s10]

It was a pretty decent mess. Hard to say exactly how much was actually lost. Anyhow it's happily bubbling away. I guess I'll find out. I'll definitely watch it more closely next time. Thanks for the help!

Probably the worst that happened is that you didn't lose to the boil over as much as you thought and you will have a stronger beer.

I doubt that it got weaker since you didn't top up to the intended 5 gallons.

My boil off rate on my stove is between .75 and 1.25 gallons per hour so starting with 2.5 I would end up with somewhere between 1.75 gallons (if .75/hr) and 1.25 gallons (if 1.25/hr). I have never measured the rate accurately because I just top up anyway.

So you really didn't lose too much. Approximately .25 to .75 gallons to the boil over and evaporation.

 

[Revvy]

Thanks for the responses. Original batch was for 5 gallons. So I started with 2.5 gallons of water plus ingredients. With boil off I was left with 1 gallon.

As for the question on OG, good question and unfortunately I neglected that step.

Can I assume it will be extra diluted?
@revvy, do you have a link to that dilution tool?

The dillution tool I use is part of beersmith... But my friend Homebrew Dad evidently has one here.

 

[Revvy]

P Im wondering if it's worth keeping.

Quit saying this... you made beer of some sort, it may not be the beer you intended but it may very well be drinkable. Tossing a beer out before seeing the process through is a waste of time and money.

You can always toss it out AFTER IT'S FINISHED, or, blend it with another, small batch. Or cook with it, or give it away to someone who's not as picky about beers and will drink anything, and love you forever after....or use it to feed the garden, or wash your hair with it.

If you toss it out before, then you'll never know... and you probably through out a perfectly acceptable beer. It may be the perfect beer to just tide you over til the next batch is done...

Read this old thread of mine...