5 Gallon Better Bottle

[thirdedition]

I brewed up a Belgian Dubbel over the weekend all is going well. I'm fermenting in a 5 gallon better bottle. I had air lock activity after a few hours, went down to to check before bed and saw that I needed to attach a blow off hose. I did and it was a good thing, it is fermenting like crazy.

Now for my question. After looking on the better bottle site it appears I only have about 4 gallons of water in there. Since this is supposed to be a 5 gallon batch, could I add 1 gallon of water with my priming sugar when I go to bottle?

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[Pappers_]

Hi. Adding water after fermentation would give you more volume, but it would also dilute flavor, lower abv, and thin the mouthfeel of your beer.

 

[menschmaschine]

You should really conduct primary fermentation in a 6+ gallon fermenter. 5 Gallon BBs are better for secondary fermentation and/or lagering.

As Pappers said, it will dilute ABV and flavor. If you really want to get a little more beer and sacrifice those things, you can add some preboiled/cooled water to fermented beer and calculate the results.

The parameters that you can calculate are Final Gravity, ABV, and IBUs. You can do it with one equation for each: C1V1=C2V2

C = Concentration
V = Volume
and only use whole numbers

An example for FG would be (use last two digits): 16*4=C2*5
C2= 12.8, so you're if your initial FG was 1.016, adding a gallon would take it down to 1.0128

The parameters that you can't readily account for are hop flavor and aroma, body, mouthfeel, etc.

You could always add a half gallon or less to have a compromise.

 

[thirdedition]

Would it make it taste differently than starting with 5 gallons? It was supposed to be 5 a gallon batch to start so would it thin it out to what it is supposed to taste like, or would adding the water later change the flavor too significantly?

 

[Adam78K]

I wouldn't just stick to the 4 gallons and be happy with it. Only knocked off about 10 beers or so, no biggie.

 

[Pappers_]

Would it make it taste differently than starting with 5 gallons? It was supposed to be 5 a gallon batch to start so would it thin it out to what it is supposed to taste like, or would adding the water later change the flavor too significantly?

If you are going to top off with water to bring your batch up to its intended volume, Commonly-Held-Wisdom says that you do so before fermentation, not after. I'm not entirely sure why CHW says that - I imagine it has something to do with melding flavors and the way the yeasties work.

Are you making extract, partial mash, or all grain batches?

 

[thirdedition]

Partial mash. I used malt extract, some crushed barley and hop pellets. I guess I'll just run with it, and either use my other fermenter, or pick up a 6 gallon better bottle for the next brew.

 

[Bastido]

Hey, I was just reading this thread and wondering what the advantages to fermenting in a 6 gallon primary would be? Thanks!