Not enough water. D'oh!

[Hedley]

Hi Brewers,

I brew beer in 2.5 gallon batches. I actually only brew up the mash in a pot that holds about 1.5 gallons, and then top up to 2.5 gallons by adding bottled water to the fermentation vessel. Tonight I have just realised I only have 2 gallons in the fermentor, and have not got time to boil another lot of water and wait for it to cool. I am planning on topping up the rest tomorrow with bottled water. Will that be okay? Should I stir or just pour in gently?

Any help most appreciated.

Ross

 

[BigJoeBrew]

Here is an article that might help with techniques

https://byo.com/body/item/237-blending-for-volume-techniques

 

[McKnuckle]

If you have already pitched yeast, i would not stir. If you require taking a gravity reading, you'll need to stir, but I would simply suggest not doing that.

To avoid unnecessary oxidation, you might consider siphoning water into the fermenter with the end of the siphon fully submerged to avoid splashing.

Or... you could just leave it alone, and have slightly less beer with a higher ABV.

 

[Hedley]

Cheers for all these tips people. I am planning on using a bottling bucket for the first time this brew, so I think I will siphon some extra bottled water into the bucket before siphoning in the brew.

Ross

 

[65C]

If I'm too short or something - I just go with it - beer might be a bit stronger but I prefer that to messing with it - and it's good to have a few strong brews around

 

[flars]

You can consider bottled water sanitary. Aerate the water and pour it in if the fermentation has not been going for over a day.

edit: Just noticed the date of the original post. Bottled water is still sanitary though.

 

[Hedley]

Ah good to know I could have poured water in if fermentation was only a day old. As it happens I only saw that a couple of days after I started fermentation. Out of interest, what is the reason behind the one day cut off point?

Ross

 

[ike8228]

The point where oxygen is good for the yeast but bad for the beer.

 

[flars]

Ah good to know I could have poured water in if fermentation was only a day old. As it happens I only saw that a couple of days after I started fermentation. Out of interest, what is the reason behind the one day cut off point?

Ross

I think I gave you some misinformation. Beers of around 1.080 and larger can benefit from extra oxygen in the first 12 to 18 hours. During this time most of the yeast is in the growth phase before active fermentation. The extra oxygen will continue the growth phase.

Fermentation in small beers may begin withing hours. Adding more oxygen after the fermentation has started may be detrimental. Perhaps adding water that contains oxygen may be safe up to 6 hours.

I'm willing to be corrected if this is totally off base.

 

[Hedley]

Cheers. But do you think I will be ok to add bottled water (which may have oxygen in) to the bottling bucket at bottling stage? I will be bottle conditioning by the way.

Ross

 

[Jim311]

Don't do that. Just let it ride man. It will still taste great, it will just be a little stronger than usual. It isn't worth risking the oxidation. It's too late to top it up.

 

[flars]

Cheers. But do you think I will be ok to add bottled water (which may have oxygen in) to the bottling bucket at bottling stage? I will be bottle conditioning by the way.

Ross

Bottled water and even boiled water that has cooled contains enough air to oxidize a beer. Adding the water may work if you are going to bottle condition at high temperature to shorten the conditioning time and plan to drink the beer fast after it is carbonated. Would still be a risk though.

How did your SG sample taste? How would it taste diluted? Might be okay to go with this one short on volume and brew another.

Harvest the yeast for your next one.

 

[Hedley]

I have about 2 gallons of liquid in the fermenter and the recipe calls for 2.5. There is 1.6 kg of extra light malt extract in the brew. So guess I could leave and just have a pokey brew.

However, the article that BigJoeBrew linked to says:

To reduce the oxygen content of your dilution water, boil it vigorously for 15 minutes...After boiling, cool the water as quickly as possible...For bottle conditioned beers, adding ascorbic is absolutely unnecessary. The active yeast that condition the beer in the bottle should quickly take up any oxygen that might be in the brew...If you are bottling your beer, begin by quietly transferring your dilution water to your bottling bucket. Siphon the water or pour very carefully, don’t just dump it in.

flars: I did not take an SG reading as at the time I thought I would add water the next day, so figured that reading would be meaningless. I checked on here before adding water and was swayed by BigJoeBrew's link to add water to the bottling bucket instead.

This seems to indicate I will be okay as long as I boil the water first. Cool fairly quickly and bottle condition. No?

As an aside, when I bottle I usually rack straight from the fermentor, by taking off the lid completely and siphoning into bottles. This time I am looking to siphon into to a bottling bucket first to make the process less messy/preserve beer. Does all this risk adding oxygen to the water (my guess it yes potentially but we want to minimize the exposure)