Boiled off too much?

[marms]

so i brewed my second all grain today, a belgin american IPA. my first all grain i didnt boil hard enough to evaporate enough off to reach my 5 gallon target. so this time i boiled harder before doing my hop additions. I ended up with 4 gallons on a 5 gallon target. Should i add a gallon of water to hit the 5 gallon target or would leaving it as a 4 gallon batch be better?
I was thinking of adding because thats what you would do in an extract brew after you boil in all the hops and such.

thanks

 

[Yooper]

What's your current OG, and your target (per the recipe) OG?

 

[Revvy]

I found a magic thing that happens. when you calculate your gravity of your current volume and you then use the dillution tool in beersmith to calculate the gravity after toppiing it off with the amount of water you are missing, you almost always come back to what the original gravity should be. I've topped off when necessary and the beer indeed has turned out fine.

 

[marms]

the recipe i used calls for 9.75 lbs of pilsen malt and 1.5 lbs of pale crystal malt and has an OG of 1.060, but i changed the pale crystal to belgian aromatic malt so im not sure how that changes my target OG. I measured and im at about 1.070

 

[Yooper]

the recipe i used calls for 9.75 lbs of pilsen malt and 1.5 lbs of pale crystal malt and has an OG of 1.060, but i changed the pale crystal to belgian aromatic malt so im not sure how that changes my target OG. I measured and im at about 1.070

ok, as Revvy said, you can calculate the amount of water to add. The aromatic malt is different than the crystal in character, but it won't change the basic OG much. So, if you have 4 gallons of 1.070, and you want an OG of 1.060, a tad bit over .75 gallon will get you there! (Water is 1.000).

In an OG batch, hitting your targeted OG is more important than the actual volume in the fermenter. At first, it's hard to nail down your boil off, your efficiency, etc, but with time you'll be able to predict your results better.

 

[Walker]

yes, you can top it off with water, or leave it as it for a beer with more alcohol, IBUs, hop flavor and aroma, and deeper color.