I realize this may seem like a strange question, but my OG was much higher than anticipated. I didn't even think about adding more top-off water last night;maybe it was all the homebrew I consumed while brewing. I was just so delighted that my OG wasn't low so I went ahead and pitched my yeast. Now I'm starting to think it's too high for my liking and I'd rather have it lower and get more bottles. Of course if this could REALLY mess things up I'd prefer to leave it. I can't see how it would hurt as long as the water temp wasn't a shock to the yeast. All thoughts welcome!
Add water after pitching yeast?
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Are you saying you never topped of to your 5 gallons? Meaning that you have 2.5 gallons of wort sitting there? Or you hit your final volume and your gravity is still off.
If it's the former I would go ahead and top off to 5 gallons. But if it's the latter, then nothing is really wrong, and your gravity is not really off despite what you think.
We get this every day...
It's a pretty common issue for ANYONE topping off with water in the fermenter (and that includes partial mashes, extract or all grain revcipes) to have an error in reading the OG...In fact, it is actually nearly impossible to mix the wort and the top off water in a way to get an accurate OG reading...
Brewers get a low reading if they get more of the top off water than the wort, conversely they get a higher number if they grabbed more of the extract than the top off water in their sample.
When I am doing an extract with grain recipe I make sure to stir for a minimum of 5 minutes (whipping up a froth to aerate as well) before I draw a grav sample and pitch my yeast....It really is an effort to integrate the wort with the top off water...This is a fairly common new brewer issue we get on here...unless you under or over topped off or the final volume for the kit was 5 gallons and you topped off to 5.5, then the issue, sorry to say, is "operator error"
If your target volume was correct, then it will be fine.
More than likely your true OG is really what it's supposed to be. And it will mix itself fine during fermentation.
If it's the former I would go ahead and top off to 5 gallons. But if it's the latter, then nothing is really wrong, and your gravity is not really off despite what you think.
We get this every day...
It's a pretty common issue for ANYONE topping off with water in the fermenter (and that includes partial mashes, extract or all grain revcipes) to have an error in reading the OG...In fact, it is actually nearly impossible to mix the wort and the top off water in a way to get an accurate OG reading...
Brewers get a low reading if they get more of the top off water than the wort, conversely they get a higher number if they grabbed more of the extract than the top off water in their sample.
When I am doing an extract with grain recipe I make sure to stir for a minimum of 5 minutes (whipping up a froth to aerate as well) before I draw a grav sample and pitch my yeast....It really is an effort to integrate the wort with the top off water...This is a fairly common new brewer issue we get on here...unless you under or over topped off or the final volume for the kit was 5 gallons and you topped off to 5.5, then the issue, sorry to say, is "operator error"
If your target volume was correct, then it will be fine.
More than likely your true OG is really what it's supposed to be. And it will mix itself fine during fermentation.
Early in the fermentation, it is not a problem. If doing it later, use cooled, boiled water. Water from the tap (or bottle) has oxygen in it, which is good at the start of fermentation, but bad later on. Boiling the water drives off the entrained oxygen.
You can add water at anytime. Just remember you are thinning out the beer; not just the alcohol, but the flavors too (malt, hops, bitterness, esters, etc)
You can add water at anytime. Just remember you are thinning out the beer; not just the alcohol, but the flavors too (malt, hops, bitterness, esters, etc)
