All grain batch - add more water?

[rcbridge]

I just finished brewing my first all grain batch. I aimed for 6 gallons to put in the boil pot so that I end with 5 gallons in the fermentor, but when I transferred to the fermentor I ended up with only 4 gallons. Should I add more water on top to bring it up to 5? Or just deal with the 4 gallon result?

Any tips towards avoiding this problem in the future would be welcome.


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[duboman]

You boiled off more so wound up with less, you can leave it or top off, huge choice is yours.

What was the OG? If it's higher than expected your top off will drop it to the expected, if it's lower than you need to evaluate your efficiency and adjust.


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[piemaker1976]

I would not add more water and take the risk of contaminating the brew you have. Even a small risk of contamination is better avoided than taken. 4 gallons of uninfected beer is better than 5 gallons of infected beer.

Did you hit your target gravity? Was it higher or lower than expected?

Did you lose a lot of wort in the bottom sludge of the brew pot?

You may just have boiled off more than you expected during your brew. I have found that the only real way to gauge your true boil off is trial and error. You may even consider placing 6 gallons of just water in your brew pot, boiling it and measuring the difference to see if you are losing more than one gallon per hour. I find I usually lose a gallon to boil off and about a half gallon to trub at the bottom of my kettle when I drain it into the fermenter.

 

[piemaker1976]

I will also add that many people routinely add water to top off. It's not that uncommon of a practice. If you decide to go that way, you may want to consider boiling it first to avoid any issues.

 

[Puddlethumper]

I will also add that many people routinely add water to top off. It's not that uncommon of a practice. If you decide to go that way, you may want to consider boiling it first to avoid any issues.

+1 ^^^^

You can add water without fear of contamination as long as you know the water is OK. Safest thing to do is boil it first. (Actually, the water will be pasteurized if you get it up to 160F for 6 seconds and that probably is adequate. Boil the water to sterilize it.)

Check the gravity of the beer. If it is higher than expected then you have some room to add water without watering the final product down. If the gravity is about where the recipe said it should be I'd leave it alone.