adding water due to boiling off

[nexy_sm]

Hello homebrewers,

have again one brilliant question. Namely, I finished my first batch with less almost 25 % less wort. And that's why the beer was really bitter when I bottled it (?). In this cases, is it ok to add water during boil to make it for boiling off?

 

[krackin]

Yes.

 

[flars]

If you are sure of your boil off amount before the boil, yes add that amount. If you are not sure of the boil off amount, add the top off volume to the fermentor. Amount of boil off can vary according to humidity, barometric pressure, and heat versus time differences.

 

[tacks]

As long as you don't mind having more beer of a lower abv and flavor. What were you brewing/ extract or All Grain/ what was your hop schedule? Need more information to really answer your question.

 

[nexy_sm]

So, it was like this, I boiled my first batch, and when i poured the wort into fermentor i realized less then expected 10 liters. I didn't do anything, but now, when I think I could have added water in order to have 10 liters.

 

[feinbera]

Most recipes are written in anticipation of boiling some water off. So, yes, it's fine to add water -- but only enough to bring your wort volume back to the volume the recipe's supposed to make.

If you go into the boil with more than the recipe's target volume, you don't want to replace all that "extra" water after you've gone to the trouble of boiling it off, otherwise, like tacks said, you'll get less flavor and lower ABV than you were aiming for.