Adding Water to Wort

[KicyM]

So here's my concern. I've calculated my recipe for a 3-gallon batch. I have to be honest, I've never paid attention to how much water really boils off when brewing. I've googled it and some people say 1 gallon/hour, others say 2.5. If too much boils off I think my alcohol content will be way too high.

My question is, if I needed to add a half gallon or so of liquid to the wort, either at the end or towards the end when I notice too much is disappearing, will is be problematic to throw in some water?

Are there other ways to fix this problem?

 

[cmac62]

No problem, but make sure the water is either RO or distilled. Ive done it bunches of times, also if you brew with extract this is done all the time.

 

[triethylborane]

Do a test and see how much boil off you have with your system. Id try a 4.5 gallon boil, this would account for trub loss as well, and see what you get.

 

[MrBJones]

I'll let others answer your actual question. But the best way to fix the problem is to avoid it in the first place....why don't you determine what YOUR boil-off rate is? It isn't hard...

1. just put a measured couple gallons of already boiling water in YOUR kettle (get it boiling with less than the start amount, then top it off with almost-boiling water from another pot)
2. boil for a hour on YOUR burner/stovetop/whatever you use
3. then measure the difference.

For all practical purposes, that's then YOUR boil-off per hour - using your equipment - regardless of how long you boil or how much you start with

 

[AJinJacksonville]

When I do five gallon extract brews, I always boil and cover about four gallons of water to remove the chlorine from the tap water. I throw in a half of a campden tablet as well for good measure. I reviewed the municipal water reports, and they do not use chloramine in my neck of the woods. After boiling the prep water, I sanitize the kettle top and set it aside to cool.

After composing the wort and while adding to the primary bucket, I top it off with the pre-prepped water. I have not run into any off flavors or problems I can attribute to the top-off water...but I will say that I usually always end up topping off with the same amount. I'm just too lazy to take measurements...haha.

Cheers.

 

[eric19312]

I routinely brew high gravity and then dilute in fermentor. I can do 15 gal in fermentor but only have a 15 gal kettle. I’ll boil 14 gal down to 12.5 and transfer 12 to fermentor. Top up with 3 gallons distilled water and I’m good to go.