Came up short on wort volume. Should I add water after fermentation?

[johnsonpvb17]

Brewed a 6 gallon all grain batch of triple ipa, and came up about a gallon short on target post boil wort volume into the fermenter.

It was a 21 pound grain bill so it should have some flavor. The post boil OG is high enough, 1.094. Fermentation has started.

Should I add 1/2 gallon water so the keg is topped off anywhere along the fermentation time line, or just leave as is?

Thanks for any opinions, advice.

 

[day_trippr]

What was the target post-boil gravity? You could certainly dilute down to that if you came in high without changing the intended character in a negative manner. If you're going to add water I'd do it while the yeast are highly active so they'll scrub any O2 ingress...

Cheers!

 

[lumpher]

^This^. Top it off now and you'll end up where you expected to be.

 

[ncbrewer]

If you're going to add water I'd do it while the yeast are highly active so they'll scrub any O2 ingress...

Would it be good to boil and cool the water to remove oxygen, or would it quickly dissolve oxygen after cooling and negate the benefits?

 

[day_trippr]

I would bring it to at least a momentary boil for sanitation reasons - it'd be a bitch to introduce spoiling agents at this point - then allow to cool before adding to the fermenter. If you do it while the yeast are highly active any O2 content should get scrubbed...

Cheers!

 

[JohnDBrewer]

Next time make those decisions after the boil. There are dilution tools out there to determine how much water to add. (Also, the opposite, how much DME to add if your OG is light.) Nothing worse then not putting 5g in a keg after all that effort. Same deal though, the water should be sanitized, etc. I shoot for 5.25-5.5gal into the fermenter on my software. That way I always get a full keg and the remainder goes into a 2ltr soda bottle, which is immediately forced carbed for tasting/reward.

 

[johnsonpvb17]

Thanks to all for the as usual great advice.

Getting consistently full kegs has been a challenge for me. I have a hard time reading the boiler fill markers, and stopping the transfer when the line is no longer clear. This time I cut it too close/got inattentive on both the boiler and fermenter fill levels.

I was going to just roll with it but realized it was time for the first dry hop (early due to travel) and decided to add 3/4 gallon of boiled cooled water along with the hops while the fermenter was open. The target abv is 10%. If it gets good attenuation, that should still be met. The process certainly perked up the yeast.

Thanks again for the help.