Didn't add enough water

[itty01]

Hi all,

First time poster, fairly new brewer. Last night I started a batch for a brown ale (Northern Brewer's Nukey Brown Ale). Maybe it was being a bit sick, or simultaneously roasting two chickens at the same time, but I managed to forget to add extra water (they call to dilute the batch to 5 gallons) before pitching the yeast.

Thus, I'm left with approximately 4.25 gallons, as opposed to 5 gallons, of what will become beer.

Can anyone tell me how serious of an error this might be? My initial thinking is that the beer will end up tasting more like a stout as opposed to a brown ale. I managed to misplace my hydrometer at the last minute so didn't end up taking a specific gravity reading. Right now though, it is fermenting normally, just with less in the primary fermenter.

When I realized my mistake this morning, I was tempted to just go ahead and add more water, but I thought that this would disrupt the fermentation process.

Anyways, any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

-Itty

 

[Suthrncomfrt1884]

Just let it go. You'll just have a little stronger beer, but not by a whole lot. A stout would be completely different ingredients, so you'll still end up with a brown.

 

[Hang Glider]

You won't hurt it by pouring in more water, but you'll be opening up the system. Better to leave it closed, let the yeasties have some fun, and have a tiny bit stronger beer in the end. Not a critical mistake.

 

[celts]

if you're really worried about it, get some distilled water and top it off. Not a big deal. As Suthrncomfrt said, you'll just end up with a stronger beer and depending how strong possibly a bit of extra sugar, so if you have an extra packet of yeast, you might want to throw that in there too.

 

[bknifefight]

You could add some boiled and cooled water to top it off but I would just let it go. Like Suthrncomfrt1884 said, it'll be a stronger beer which in my book is 100% fine

 

[itty01]

Awesome. Thanks for your input, everyone. Glad to be a new member of this forum!

 

[Yooper]

I guess I'm the only different opinion. I'd probably go ahead and top it off to 5 gallons.

But it probably doesn't matter all that much anyway. You'll just have a little bit more alcohol and body, with a bit stronger flavor if you don't top it up.