adding water to top off the wort

[Zorbarose]

I want to make sure i'm brewing right. I boil 4 gallons, do the whole grain, extract, hop thing. take if off the burner (using a Bayou Classic outdoor propane burner). Put in ice bath.

Because this is all about a 5 gal standard, I pour in 1 gal of cold water. wait maybe 15 min, then check the temp. if it is below 100, I'll transfer to the carboy, check the level, then add more cold water to bring the level to 4.75. I don't bring it to 5 gal exact cause with a 5 gal carboy I leave room for krausen (even with a blow off tube, I think i need some extra room).

Question: Am I watering down the beer, or getting it to the level it should be at?

Should I add the water after it cools down in the ice bath instead of using it to cool it down? does it make a difference?

 

[Neomich]

If your recipe/kit is for a 5 gallon batch and you're using slightly less than 5 gallons, you're not watering it down. If anything, the beer would be slightly stronger due to less volume.

I do partial boils myself. I chill my water in the freezer and use it to cool my wort and bring me up to a full 5 gallons at the same time. I would use the water to cool the wort, the quicker it cools, the less potential for infection. Plus, the sooner it cools, the sooner it's ready!

That's my process at least until I get my propane burner so I can do full boils outside.

 

[njrockpd]

I took my OG reading and it was 1.070, but as I filled the carboy I realized that I only had 4 gallons of beer. I added a gallon of water bringing my beer to the correct quantity, but now I'm not sure how to calculate my OG.

 

[cervezarara]

You have 70 pts X 4 gallons = 280 total points. When you diluted to 5 gallons, you have 280/5 = 56 points. Your OG should be 1.056, which you could measure to verify.

 

[jjward101]

I took my OG reading and it was 1.070, but as I filled the carboy I realized that I only had 4 gallons of beer. I added a gallon of water bringing my beer to the correct quantity, but now I'm not sure how to calculate my OG.

Unless I am really off, you should have done any calculating before you started if you want to check your OG, just like always, you ned to use a hydrometer.

 

[bullinachinashop]

As stated above ^

OG x Vol = OG x Vol
70 X 4 = ? x 5
280 = ? x 5
280/5 = ?
56 = ?

 

[jjward101]

Would a hydrometer reading not give the same answer? Im now confused. Not with the math, thats easy... Im confused as to the need to do the math If the hydrometer is good.

 

[bullinachinashop]

A Hydro reading is good, but why bother your wort if you don't have to?

Bull