Ever add water after secondary?

[sivdrinks]

That shoulda got someone's attention. My NB Two Hearted clone OG was supposed to be around 1.064. Mine came out to 1.078. What attributes this? I'm all for abv but I'd rather have the extra brews by adding water to bottling bucket. Whatcha think?

 

[shauntraxler]

Is your volume low or did you miscalculate something?

 

[takahiro]

>>sivdrinks
Most likely, higher-than-expected gravity could be associated with
1. better-than-anticipated mashing efficiency of your brewing system, and/or
2. too much evaporation during boiling

Adding H2O is relatively easier before the primary fermentation, because the dissolved oxygen in tap/bottled H2O would be beneficial for the yeast growth. If post primary fermentation, however, H2O should be boiled to minimize introducing oxygen. I believe this is to prevent oxidation problems, yada yada.

Hope this helps

 

[cms]

That's a huge difference.

If this was a partial boil, then I would assume that you didn't mix your wort and top-off water enough. Otherwise, you either mis-measured something of (if AG), got like 110% efficiency or something.

 

[sivdrinks]

It was an extract kit, 2.5 gallon boil. I added 1/3 of the LME at 30 min instead of 60. I also recap and flip upside down the syrup bottles to get all that extra goodness out. Maybe my sampling technique is poor? My previous Witbier was supposed to be 1.044 and came out 1.036. Added same amour of water both times, just above 5 gallon mark.

 

[heferly]

It was an extract kit, 2.5 gallon boil. I added 1/3 of the LME at 30 min instead of 60. I also recap and flip upside down the syrup bottles to get all that extra goodness out. Maybe my sampling technique is poor? My previous Witbier was supposed to be 1.044 and came out 1.036. Added same amour of water both times, just above 5 gallon mark.

sounds like the top off water wasn't mixed in well enough when you took your sample. if you topped off to 5 gal, just assume you hit your target and bottle. then next time, make sure you shake the fermenter thoroughly before taking your sample.

adding water at this point could add all sorts of problems (infection, oxidation, etc)