Well, after a successful first batch of beer (a wheat beer) I decided to brew a Nut Brown Ale from an extract kit. I never did the whole hydrometer reading thing the first time around, so I thought I'd give it a shot this time. My reading before pitching the yeast was 1.1078, and a week later, I took another reading. It was 1.014. This seems WAY too high. Although, I tasted the sample, and it tasted like Vodka... I'm talking strong alcohol here. By my calculations, this beer is gonna be 12%!! Please tell me I screwed something up on the first reading! This can't be right.... can it!?! I also noticed that the level was at 4 1/2 gallons (not 5) on my primary. It could be that I need to add 1/2 gallon of water (I was thinking of doing this when I transfer to the secondary) - or should I not do that? I'm pretty sure I just misjudged where the 5 gallon line was, and filled to the bubbles, and not the liquid. I know that's a lot of questions, but I'd appreciate any help you folks can give me.