adding water during fermentation?

[ToddStark]

Question: What concerns or issues do you see if adding water to the fermentation bucket about 2 days into fermentation?

(Back Story) This is my second wheat ale using Wyeast Bavarian wheat 3056. My first one got real scary in that my air lock was full of crud and I was cleaning it out every couple of hours for a day and a half. Very active yeast strain. I read up on it and it says you need to leave at least 1/3 head space in your fermentor bucket. on this batch I am at the 4gal mark (normally I fill up to the 5 gal mark). Now my hope is that after the very active part of fermentation is over I can add another gallon of water and the remaining yeast will eat up any oxygen in that water addition so I don't have any oxidation issues.

Thoughts or issues on my plan to get me back up to 5 gal that I can bottle?

 

[seabrew8]

Maybe you could boil the gallon first, i believe that drives out oxygen....I never done anything like that before so i'm not really sure.

However, why don't you make a simple blowoff tube? I just force 3/8 plastic tubing through my bung.

 

[ToddStark]

Maybe you could boil the gallon first, i believe that drives out oxygen....I never done anything like that before so i'm not really sure.

However, why don't you make a simple blowoff tube? I just force 3/8 plastic tubing through my bung.

"Blowoff" is in the future. I don't have any tubing on hand plus my chamber is TIGHT. I have bit of head space in the chamber but two buckets fill the chamber so I got no room for another jug or bucket of water to run the tube through. thinking I may have to drill a hole in the side of my freezer to run blow off tube hoses out of it in the future. In the long run it sounds like the blow off method is the best option

 

[InLimbo]

Maybe you could boil the gallon first, i believe that drives out oxygen....I never done anything like that before so i'm not really sure.

However, why don't you make a simple blowoff tube? I just force 3/8 plastic tubing through my bung.

I'm seconding a blow-off tube. Don't even bother with an airlock for the first couple of days. Just attach a blow off tube, and route the tube into a bucket. This is ESSENTIAL when making bigger beers, and with other vigorous yeast strains like WLP002. Using blow off tubes for the first few days of primary are still a good and safe practice no matter what yeast/beer you're brewing.

Todd, the biggest concern with pouring water into your fermenting beer is that you're at risk of introducing a TON of oxygen by the act of pouring into the fermenting beer--no matter how carefully your pour the water. The turbulent action of pouring a gallon or so of liquid into your fermenter is going to pull oxygen in with it, risking oxidation. Introducing oxygen after fermentation is going to make your beer taste like paper, cardboard or worse.

 

[ToddStark]

I guess deep down I knew the right answer was not what I was attempting. That's why I came here, I just needed to hear it from the experts to just stop trying to do it the wrong way. I found some tubing, not really the size I should be using, a little smaller but hopefully is a better solution "This Time" than fermenting short and topping off later. I do appreciate your input and guidance greatly, thanks folks...

 

[RM-MN]

I'm seconding a blow-off tube. Don't even bother with an airlock for the first couple of days. Just attach a blow off tube, and route the tube into a bucket. This is ESSENTIAL when making bigger beers, and with other vigorous yeast strains like WLP002. Using blow off tubes for the first few days of primary are still a good and safe practice no matter what yeast/beer you're brewing.

Todd, the biggest concern with pouring water into your fermenting beer is that you're at risk of introducing a TON of oxygen by the act of pouring into the fermenting beer--no matter how carefully your pour the water. The turbulent action of pouring a gallon or so of liquid into your fermenter is going to pull oxygen in with it, risking oxidation. Introducing oxygen after fermentation is going to make your beer taste like paper, cardboard or worse.

Why does the water have to be poured into the beer? We rack beer to the bottling bucket without introducing much oxygen so why couldn't one rack boiled and cooled water into the fermenter?

 

[Dcpcooks]

I'm unclear why you want to add water to your beer? Did you make a batch that was supposed to be topped of after the boil and just not complete that step hoping to add more head space? Did you make a batch with the same amount of sugars but reduce the water volume? So you intentionally made a stronger beer with the plan to dilute it to the intended volume?

If your trying to regain lost volume due to blow off then your going to dilute the beer and throw off your OG and FG numbers as well as changing the bitterness. You could add a little dme to the water (at boil) to help offset the loss of sugars. Kind of like making a starter.

You will run the risk of oxidizing your beer and/or introducing potential contamination. So you'll want to work clean and cool it quickly. Boiling water will drive off o2 so give it a good boil. Don't just heat it up to 212 and cool it right away.

If you really need to add volume to the beer, which I would not due in this case. I'd boil and cool it to your current fermentation temps and carefully rack it with a hose to the bottom of the fermentor with a very slow and gentle transfer. I'd also do this sooner rather than later, active fermentation may help prevent oxidation. O2 is taken up pretty quickly by active yeast. With that said the latest I've every seen a recommendation to introduce o2 is 12-18 hours after pitching yeast. That's usually done for a high gravity beer where you want extra o2 for the yeast and it's usually done with pure 02. So your at 48 hours and your yeast is probably settling down a bit and may not take up 02 as quickly as it would have earlier in the fermentation.

If it were me I'd take my lumps on this batch and settle on four gallons of good beer. I'd set up a blow off tube going forward. A slightly larger bucket may be good idea if you can fit it in your space.

 

[ToddStark]

I'm unclear why you want to add water to your beer? Did you make a batch that was supposed to be topped of after the boil and just not complete that step hoping to add more head space? Did you make a batch with the same amount of sugars but reduce the water volume? So you intentionally made a stronger beer with the plan to dilute it to the intended volume?

If your trying to regain lost volume due to blow off then your going to dilute the beer and throw off your OG and FG numbers as well as changing the bitterness. You could add a little dme to the water (at boil) to help offset the loss of sugars. Kind of like making a starter.

You will run the risk of oxidizing your beer and/or introducing potential contamination. So you'll want to work clean and cool it quickly. Boiling water will drive off o2 so give it a good boil. Don't just heat it up to 212 and cool it right away.

If you really need to add volume to the beer, which I would not due in this case. I'd boil and cool it to your current fermentation temps and carefully rack it with a hose to the bottom of the fermentor with a very slow and gentle transfer. I'd also do this sooner rather than later, active fermentation may help prevent oxidation. O2 is taken up pretty quickly by active yeast. With that said the latest I've every seen a recommendation to introduce o2 is 12-18 hours after pitching yeast. That's usually done for a high gravity beer where you want extra o2 for the yeast and it's usually done with pure 02. So your at 48 hours and your yeast is probably settling down a bit and may not take up 02 as quickly as it would have earlier in the fermentation.

If it were me I'd take my lumps on this batch and settle on four gallons of good beer. I'd set up a blow off tube going forward. A slightly larger bucket may be good idea if you can fit it in your space.

This particular recipe is boiled with 3.5 - 4 gal of water expecting to top off to 5 gal once it hits the fermentor. That being said my buckets have around 6.5 gal space. This yeast strain is VERY active and will remain so for about 2 days. I have since learned after using it for the first time that it is recommended to have at least 1/3 head space available in the container when fermentation starts. My thoughts where then to leave the level at the same at the end of the boil but then add the extra water after about 2 days. Fermentation would not be complete yet but the most active part would have been.

I went ahead and topped off to 5 gallons yesterday before fermentation had started and hooked up my blow off tubes. Both my blow off tubes got clogged last night and I blew both lids. The mess wasn't too bad but the tubes are continuing to get clogged this morning.

The holes in the lids are probably 1/2 inch so I am probably going to drill bigger holes in the lids and get bigger tubing for future runs.