First Brew - Can I add more water to bottling bucket?

[BrewThruYou]

I will be bottling my first brew in a few days (Bavarian Hefeweizen). I made many mistakes...probably too many to list...but I'm learning and I'll correct those things on my second batch.

One issue is that I'm afraid I didn't get enough water into my primary fermentation bucket. I think it's pretty close to 5gal, but I'm not positive (it was really hard to read the water level on the side of the bucket).

If it's short of 5gal (i'm guessing it's a little short), should I add extra water when I go to bottle (the boiled water with the primary sugar) to get it to an even 5gal?

 

[shecky]

No, don't do that. Let it ride, especially if it's just a little short. Too many things could go wrong adding water post-fermentation and it sounds as if you have plenty of beer.

 

[BrewThruYou]

Okay. Maybe I'll turn off all the lights and shine a flashlight from the back to try to get an idea of how many gallons are actually in there. If it's not far off from 5gal, I'll let it ride. If it's a decent amount less, I won't add water, but might have to use less priming sugar.

 

[tvtoms]

The 5 gallon mark on my buckets is about half a gallon short of the real 5 US gallon mark anyway. I'd bottle as normal, and count up how many ounces you actually get. Then measure it out (using known 1 gallon container) and mark it for next time. I had to do that too. I got a strong 4.6 gallons to drink in the meantime, lol.

 

[shecky]

Yup. For what it's worth, I'd have to be way shy, like a gallon or more, to even consider diluting it. Even then I'd think twice.

 

[Andy_LV]

that's very bad idea to dilute it! think of it like.. buy a beer in shop and add water to it...

On the bright side - you will most likely end up with one full crate and one half full... you have perfect excuse to store full crate in a long drawer and drink up the half full meanwhile

 

[j1laskey]

Why would you add water to beer?

 

[BrewThruYou]

Why would you add water to beer?

Because it might not be 5gal. Please remember I'm a noob and this is my first batch.

 

[soundsandsuds]

Don't worry about it. Maybe prime on the low side of medium to be safe. RDWHAHB.
Just measure more carefully next time. And add some measuring lines to the outside of your fermenter so you know where 5 gallons is.

 

[frazier]

I made many mistakes...probably too many to list...but I'm learning ...

I've been there brother, believe me. I've got 10 batches under my belt, and I've done something wrong in close to 100% of them. I sit up at night, wondering if I should make some hop tea, or dump in some extra DME, whatever. My track record with "on-the-fly" solutions to imagined problems is not good. On the other hand, when I ride it out to see what happens, I end up with some very nice beer.

So let it go. Forgive yourself, and enjoy the results. Your next beer will be better.

 

[nanofreak]

My track record with "on-the-fly" solutions to imagined problems is not good. On the other hand, when I ride it out to see what happens, I end up with some very nice beer.

So let it go. Forgive yourself, and enjoy the results. Your next beer will be better.

This was said very well, just thought it should be restated.

 

[j1laskey]

Because it might not be 5gal. Please remember I'm a noob and this is my first batch.

I didn't mean to sound rude......but remember after fermentation your wort is now beer...drink up

 

[marcelo]

I'm with a similar situation, but in my fermenter, have a beer with 7% ABV and 28 IBU, can I dilute it a bit to reduce the alcohol

 

[soundsandsuds]

I'm with a similar situation, but in my fermenter, have a beer with 7% ABV and 28 IBU, can I dilute it a bit to reduce the alcohol

I would suggest reading the replies to the original post.
Drink it. Maybe a little more slowly than usual. But drink it and make another batch. You may prefer it to what you were aiming for. Either way, there's always the next batch.

 

[DrinkinSurfer]

BrewThru, did you take hydrometer readings? If so, what was your Original Gravity vs. your expected OG? This info can help a whole lot in figuring out if you are in the ballpark. If you are within a few points of your expected OG then you were probably close to your desired volume. If you were at 1.070 and you were expecting 1.050, then there could be an issue come time to bottle. If you didn't take readings, may I first suggest that you start, and also just check approx how much empty space there is in the bucket compared to how far down the 5 gal marker is. Use a sanitized ruler if you like. Close counts.

 

[bullinachinashop]

To the OP and marcelo,
Finish your beer and drink it. Learn from what you did and move on to your next batch.
If it's a little stong for your liking, you can blend it with a lighter beer.
I used to think a 7% beer was strong, now almost everything I brew is that big.
Keep brewing!
Bull

 

[devilishprune]

I second what drinkinsurfer has to say. Take a hydrometer reading, and if it's way off then maybe you can dilute it. Personally, I don't see a problem with this, as long as your gravity is above where you want it to be and you add enough water to get it to the desired level. There was actually an article in BYO about making stronger beers and diluting them (with up to two gallons I think), so it isn't unheard of.

What's your recipe? Did you use extract? It's pretty hard to miss OG with extract, so if you add water to reach your desired volume into the fermenter, then your beer should be exactly how you wanted it to be originally.

 

[marcelo]

My problem is that I still can not maintain a constant process, sometimes I have an efficiency of 70% to 80% and never seem to get the expected amount of wort into the fermenter, and I dont know if I should add water to reach the calculated volume without interfering with the IBU.
In this beer, the OG was 1.073 and FG was 1.020 two weeks ago, probably dropped a point or two by now.
Tomorrow is the day to bottle, I'm thinking of just a thin gal with 5 or 10% water to see the results, my idea is to calculate the right amount of sugar to 1 gal and boil it in 1 / 10 gal water .
what do you think?

 

[devilishprune]

Did you use the same amount of bittering hops in your recipe that you had with a lower OG? If so, dilution is going to dilute the IBUs as well as the sugar content.

What was your anticipated OG?

 

[marcelo]

It was OG 1,065 IBU 30

 

[hal2814]

As has been mentioned already, an even 5 doesn't matter. 5 gallons doesn't even evenly divide into 12oz increments. If I were you, I'd bottle it like it is noting how much you're short. Then when your beer is ready, pick up some seltzer water at the store. When you pour your beer into the glass, mix seltzer water to the proportion of top off water you would've added. That'll give you a firsthand idea of how topping up with water would've affected your batch.

So for example, if you came in at 4.5 gallons, the ratio would've be 9:1 beer-to-water for an even 5 gallons. So when you pour a 12 oz glass of beer from your 4.5 gallon batch, add about 3 tbsp of seltzer water (2 tbps = 1 fl oz) to your glass and gently swirl. Then you'll get to see for yourself what would've happened if you topped off and you can store that knowledge away for future reference. Just make sure to use seltzer. Don't use club soda or tonic water.

 

[devilishprune]

Thats an interesting idea if you don't want to dilute it.

If you do dilute, it looks like you had about 4.5 gallons, assuming that your efficiency was the same. In that case, you could add 2 quarts to get you up to your desired gravity.

 

[ShorelineThomas]

Thanks, OP, for this thread. I've got my first batch ever in a glass carboy (second fermenter...not really needed, but I wanted to practice) and the level of the beer is not quite up to the neck. The instruction sheet from the LHBS (yeah, I know...) said, after racking to the carboy, if the level wasn't up to the neck, to wait 1 or 2 days then add enuf sterilized water to bring the level up to the neck.

I'm really reluctant to do this. I think the beer will probably be OK without adding water...? I mean, sitting in the carboy is just one step away from being in the bottling bucket...

 

[knotquiteawake]

Don't worry about it guys! my first brew ever I didn't add ANY top off water, so i was about a gallon short on my extract IPA kit. That was one of my favorite beers I've made so far!

 

[BowAholic]

old thread but same mistake here...looks like I'm a gallon shy on my 5 gallon batch of Belgian Triple...extract. Hit 1.09 SG and it was at 1.03 after a month before I put it in the secondary 1 month ago. My thoughts are that both measurements are high due to being concentrated...? I just pulled it out and it is very dark. I'm about to check FG and I planned to bottle it today. I'm sure that if I don't dilute i will sure need to mix less priming sugar than I got in the kit...

EDIT- 1.027 FG...added 4oz priming sugar and bottled got forty eight 12oz bottles so about 4 1/2 gallons...tasted great so I'm happy...